A West Rockhill Township mom and dad have been charged with seven felony counts of endangering the welfare of their children, according to reports.
Shane William Robertson, 47, and his wife, Crystal, 37, were arrested and later released after posting bond.
According to a report published by the Bucks County Courier Times, police became aware of the family's living conditions after responding to a theft report in April at a mobile home park. Police subsequently filed a report with ChildLine, the state's child abuse reporting system.
Police returned to the home several hours later after a Bucks County Children and Youth worker visited the home, said the newspaper. Six girls and one boy were taken to Grand View Hospital for an evaluation based on their physical appearance.
Two of the children tested positive for COVID-19, two had low kidney function and three had fevers and were diagnosed with acute viral syndrome. They were placed in foster care, according to the report. It was later discovered that all but one were clinically malnourished. One of the girls had maggots in her hair and another had ringworm, the report says.
It was also learned that none of the children had ever attended school.
Police photographed the trailer, documenting unwashed sheets, holes in the wall and floors strewn with dirty clothing and garbage, according to the report.
One bedroom, the report says, had one filthy mattress covered with a dirty blanket and feces on it. Rats were also kept in cages in the room.
According to the report, police said they found no food in the house except for the animals, which included two dogs, two turtles, two rabbits, snakes and toads.
Bucks County Parents Charged With Endangering Their 7 Children: Report
Kids found living with rats, garbage at a mobile home in West Rockhill Township.
Inside the mouth of the 6-year-old boy, doctors found 13 visible cavities, five teeth requiring immediate extraction, another six teeth that required crowns and a “dangerous” abscess needing immediate treatment.
His 8-year-old sister, authorities say, needed five teeth pulled and five others were fitted with crowns.
Maggots were living in their 12-year-old sister’s hair. The youngest sibling, just 4 years old, had ringworm. All but one of the seven children was also clinically malnourished, according to court documents.
None of the siblings, the oldest of which was 16, had ever attended school. All were found living in a three-bedroom mobile home in Sellersville with destroyed and disintegrating walls and floors, bugs and a locked refrigerator, according to authorities.
Some of the children did not know their birthdays. None of them liked being around people.
What was going inside a trailer at the Green Top Mobile Home Park was only discovered after a neighbor allegedly saw children removing items from an abandoned trailer and called police. All allegations were included in court documents.
Soon after the children were removed from their parents custody, the full extent of their neglect was revealed, authorities said.
Four of the children have speech impediments. Four were so underweight they were referred to a nutritionist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. CHOP doctors diagnosed four of the children with poor eyesight requiring glasses.
Police also learned the 12-year-old whose hair was infested with maggots had bad sunburn on her scalp and neck last summer, which made it too painful to brush, police said. She eventually couldn’t brush or wash her hair because it became matted.
As a result, the girl had to have most of her hair shaved off. Another sister also had to have most of her hair shaved for similar matting, police said.
Bucks County parents of 7 charged. Sick kids living in filth, with rats, no food, police say
Pennridge Regional Police were called to a Sellersville mobile home park for a theft report. The found 7 children living in inhabitable conditions.
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