Sentenced: Teriomas Johnson Would Leave Her 3 Children Home Alone With Card Board Box Toilet

[Sugar Cookie]

Teriomas Johnson, 31, faces three counts of child abuse after police arrested her on Wednesday, days after an investigation into the condition of her home in Pontiac. According to a press release from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, Johnson's 12-year-old daughter called 911 on Nov. 7 to report a possible break-in at the home. When police arrived, they found the 12-year-old and her 9-year-old siblings, a boy and a girl, three cats, and no sign of their mother.

On top of the children allegedly being home by themselves, police found the state of the home to be "deplorable."

According to the sheriff's office, the apartment was "littered with rotten food and human and animal feces." The home seemingly had no working plumbing, police said, noting that "the sinks were clogged" and the children were apparently using a "cardboard box" as a toilet.

Police said that they located Johnson in Ann Arbor. The press release stated that Johnson returned to the home three hours after they found her. Her children told police they had not seen their mother since the day before.

Further investigation led police to believe that Johnson "frequently" left her children home without any adult supervision. Police also said that while the children were all enrolled in school, their attendance was "sporadic."

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Mom 'frequently' left 3 kids home alone with only a cardboard box as a toilet: Police

When police arrived, they found Johnson's 12-year-old and her 9-year-old siblings, a boy and a girl, three cats, and no sign of their mother.

lawandcrime.com

 

[Sugar Cookie]

An Oakland County mother was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading no contest to leaving her children living in “deplorable conditions.” Before the judge sentenced her, she called the mother a “selfish liar” and said, “There is no sympathy.”

Teriomas Tremice Johnson, 31, pleaded no contest to three counts of second-degree child abuse after authorities said her three young children were left unattended in an apartment in Pontiac littered with rotten food and human and animal waste.

The investigation into Johnson began in November 2025 after an alleged break-in at a Pontiac apartment was reported by a 12-year-old girl.

Responding officers said they found no evidence of a break-in but found the home in deplorable conditions.

Police said the mother was not present and that three children -- the 12-year-old and two 9-year-olds -- were living with three cats, clogged sinks, and inoperable plumbing, causing them to use a cardboard box as a makeshift toilet.

The children said they hadn’t seen their mom since the day prior.


The three were enrolled in school, but authorities said their attendance was inconsistent.

Child Protective Services placed the children with family members.

Johnson was taken into custody shortly after and charged with three counts of second-degree child abuse.

The Oakland County mother read a letter she wrote to Judge Yasmine Poles in court regarding the charges she pleaded no contest to.

“I would like to first extend my deepest and most sincere apology to my beautiful and most precious children,” she read. “They deserve so, so much more than what I have provided them.”

Johnson said she had been struggling to cope with the loss of her mother, her children’s grandmother.


“After my mother passed suddenly, I became a mother I didn’t recognize or even thought I was capable of being,” Johnson said. “I am ashamed of the mother I allowed myself to become.”

She also said she tried to find resources for her mental health.


“I have faith that, with mandated help from this court to help me with my mental health and grief, I can get back to being the mother I was and used to always be,” Johnson said. “God works in mysterious ways, and I have asked this court for help and resources I couldn’t find on my own. Your honor, I truly love my children. They are my life. I want to be a mother they deserve.”

Immediately after Johnson finished reading her letter, Poles responded.

“Ms. Johnson, I think you’re a selfish liar. That’s what I think of you, okay? I want to be very clear because this isn’t the first time you and I have seen each other,” said Poles.

Poles said she sentenced Johnson to probation in a fleeing and eluding case where Johnson stole $3,000 worth of merchandise and drove away from police while two of her children were in the car with her.

“You stood in front of me and told me that you were going to do better, that you made a mistake, that you were going to care for those kids,” Poles said regarding Johnson’s previous conviction. “The fact that you stood in front of me and lied then, when those kids were probably in that same situation at that time, sickens me as a judge -- Should sicken the whole community that you could be that evil, that you could stand here when I could provide any resource for you at that time.”

Poles said the previous conviction in 2024 was before Johnson’s grandmother died, contradicting Johnson’s reasoning for leaving her children in “deplorable conditions.”

“If you needed resources and help, they could have been the people to provide it to you. But you didn’t. What you did, said, ‘I don’t care about these kids, it doesn’t matter to me what happens to them, they can miss a meal, they can live there with feces and dirt and disgusting situation without a place to sleep.’ And you call yourself a mother? That has nothing to do with poverty lines. That has nothing to do with mental health. Because if it was mental health, you’d be sitting right in there with them, right? We would have found you with them. But we didn’t because CPS tried calling you. The police tried calling you. And you weren’t picking up your phone because you were busy living your life. You were warm, you didn’t miss a meal, you didn’t care about them. So, I am disgusted by the fact that you’re in front of me now saying, ‘Oops, it was just a mistake.’ You thought through it. You knew exactly what you were doing. And I’m so sad for those kids. I’m so sad that I played a part in believing you the first time that I sentenced you and gave you an opportunity at probation. So we are done. There is no sympathy.”

Johnson was sentenced to 129 months to 20 years in prison. She was ordered not to contact her children directly or indirectly.

‘You call yourself a mother?’: What judge told Pontiac mom during sentencing in child abuse case

An Oakland County mother was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading no contest to leaving her children living in “deplorable conditions.” Before the judge sentenced her, she called the mother a “selfish liar” and said, “There is no sympathy.”

www.clickondetroit.com

 

[Busy Bee]

Good show Judge!! It would be interesting to know where she was at when her children were in that filthy mess! the children will know exactly where she is at now!