4 children rescued from Bradenton home infested with bugs and filth, deputies say
Four children have been taken into protective custody after deputies say a Bradenton couple and their roommate were keeping them in filthy conditions.
On Thursday, a deputy obtained an arrest warrant for Doreen McClough, 50, at an undisclosed Bradenton home around 4:52 p.m. When a resident opened the door and welcomed the deputy in, he immediately “noticed a strong putrid and rotten smell.”
According to an arrest report, there was a used plunger on the kitchen counter, a gaping hole in the living room floor and bugs covered the expired food on the ground. The conditions were unsafe for children, according to the sheriff’s office.
The hole in the ground led to a 3-foot drop and held standing water. Some children’s toys floated in the water, as well as “hundreds or more mosquitoes,” the arresting deputy wrote.
Bug bites from the insects covered the “entire bodies” of three of the children, who were found sleeping on a couch with 24-year-old Markiesha James. Two of them were infants, whose diapers “were old enough where they had changed colors from white to black,” an arrest report said.
Deputies say Daniel Case, 24, entered the home and identified himself as Markiesha’s boyfriend and the father of two of the kids. He blamed the conditions on the landlord, but stated that they didn’t sign a lease when they moved into the home in February.
In a separate room, the sheriff’s office made contact with McClough, who also had an child in her care. The boy looked “emaciated,” and told deputies that he often doesn’t get to eat dinner, according to an arrest report.
Child Protective Services removed all four children from the home.
McClough was arrested on a warrant for drug possession and child neglect without great bodily harm. She is being on $5,500 bond at the Manatee County Jail.
Case and James are also facing child neglect charges. They are both being held at the Manatee County Jail. Case is being held on $7,500 bond and James is being held on $2,500 bond.
