Child left alone with seven starving dogs in feces-covered Florida home after mom left for weeks to party in Las Vegas, authorities say
Jessica Copeland, 37, from the town of Palatka, located 60 miles south of Jacksonville, was arrested Tuesday on child neglect and animal abuse charges after a family member alerted authorities about the alleged squalor.
Deputies from the Putnam County Sheriff's Office arrived at the property Monday and said they found a teenage boy and seven 'severely neglected' dogs, the department said in a statement.
Upon entering the home, deputies said they waded through the 'vile living conditions,' which included 'layers of animal feces on the floor, garbage and debris littered throughout, and several emaciated dogs without food and water.'
Deputies found two of the dogs locked in a bedroom covered in 'four inches of feces' without food or water. Another of the animals was uncovered in a cage, and four more were in the living room, surrounded by more feces.
Copeland's son reportedly told deputies that the house had been in a similar state for years because his mother 'refuses to clean.'
Pictures released by the PTCO appeared to show feces-covered carpets, filthy items piled high all over the living room, and several large holes in the wall.
In one photo, a Christmas tree remained standing, tilted at an angle against the wall.
Several images showed extremely emaciated dogs with protruding ribs and visible signs of malnourishment, along with a filthy cage.
The child also told deputies that his mother left for Las Vegas on July 21, which investigators believe was to celebrate her birthday.
Copeland returned from her vacation to find deputies at the residence on Tuesday morning, assisting animal control in removing the dogs. On Wednesday, the sheriff's office shared bodycam footage of the arrest.
'The house is deplorable,' a deputy said as he confronted Copeland.
'I just got home from vacation,' she responded.
'This isn't just from two weeks,' the law enforcement officer said. 'The dogs are completely emaciated and at the point that they're being starved to death.'
Copeland was charged with one count of child neglect, three counts of felony animal neglect, and four counts of misdemeanor animal neglect, online jail records show. She is being held at the Putnam County Jail on $36,500 bond.
'The depravity of this situation is both heartbreaking and infuriating,' Sheriff HD DeLoach said in a statement Wednesday.
'A mother made the conscious choice to abandon her own child in a filth-ridden home, surrounded by the stench of animal feces and suffering of neglected animals while she indulged on a two-week birthday trip to Las Vegas.
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