A filth-filled apartment cost a Commerce woman at least temporary custody of her two small children, according to the Commerce Police Department.
Investigating a report of a dispute at Crossing Place Apartments, Steve Reynolds Industrial Parkway, an officer was interviewing the subject, a 36-year-old white female, when he noticed a foul odor coming from her residence.
Then one of her children opened the door, and the officer said he saw that the apartment was “in unlivable condition” and both children were “unclean.”
The officer summed another officer to assist him. The tenant reluctantly led the two into the apartment, where the officer said he noted the strong odor of cat urine and rotting food. He said he saw clothing and trash all over the floor, large stains on the floor and dirty dishes in the kitchen sink that were “so old they had things growing in them.”
The officer said the kitchen floor was covered with trash and bugs and the refrigerator had dried blood inside, as if from meat. He reported finding cat feces on the bathroom floor, and the floor of the guest bathroom was so littered in trash and roaches that there was “nowhere to walk.”
The officer also found two cats, one of which appeared to be ill.
The officers called the Department of Family and Children Services, which turned the two children over to their grandmother.
The woman’s tenant allegedly told the officers that the woman had been warned that she needed to clean up her apartment.
There was no indication that the woman was charged.
