Parents Charged After 7 Kids Found in Nightmarish Conditions, Cops Say
- 8 months ago
Parents Charged After 7 Kids Found in Nightmarish Conditions, Cops Say.
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.
On Friday, the children’s parents, Shane William Robertson, 47, and his wife, Crystal, 37, were charged with seven felony counts of endangering the welfare of children. The couple are free after each posting 10% of $10,000 bail.
Authorities became aware of the family when Pennridge Regional Police Department responded to a theft report in the 600 block of Rosann Lane on April 23. There they found a 12-year-old girl in the front yard of a mobile home next door to where the theft was reported.
The girl began explaining to the officers that her parents told them not to go into the abandoned trailer, but she only took a blanket to keep her pet rats warm because her parents didn’t have much money left, according to a probable cause affidavit.
She also told police, “her parents should not be held responsible,” the affidavit said.
The girl was described as barefoot. The hood of her sweatshirt was over her head and she told the officers she has “social anxiety.”
Minutes later, her 14-year-old sister came out from the rear of the property. She was wearing dirty clothing and work boots that were too big for her feet, the affidavit said.
Both girls admitted to entering the trailer, and mentioned that they do not have very much money.
About 25 minutes later, police spoke to Shane Robertson on the phone and he and his wife returned to the property. The officers advised the couple they had concerns about the health of their daughters based on their appearances and asked to look inside of the trailer.
Shane Robertson let the officers in where police described the interior as in “obvious disrepair and disarray.” They also found the refrigerator door secured with a bicycle lock.
Crystal Robertson explained that the children had been going through so much food t
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.
On Friday, the children’s parents, Shane William Robertson, 47, and his wife, Crystal, 37, were charged with seven felony counts of endangering the welfare of children. The couple are free after each posting 10% of $10,000 bail.
Authorities became aware of the family when Pennridge Regional Police Department responded to a theft report in the 600 block of Rosann Lane on April 23. There they found a 12-year-old girl in the front yard of a mobile home next door to where the theft was reported.
The girl began explaining to the officers that her parents told them not to go into the abandoned trailer, but she only took a blanket to keep her pet rats warm because her parents didn’t have much money left, according to a probable cause affidavit.
She also told police, “her parents should not be held responsible,” the affidavit said.
The girl was described as barefoot. The hood of her sweatshirt was over her head and she told the officers she has “social anxiety.”
Minutes later, her 14-year-old sister came out from the rear of the property. She was wearing dirty clothing and work boots that were too big for her feet, the affidavit said.
Both girls admitted to entering the trailer, and mentioned that they do not have very much money.
About 25 minutes later, police spoke to Shane Robertson on the phone and he and his wife returned to the property. The officers advised the couple they had concerns about the health of their daughters based on their appearances and asked to look inside of the trailer.
Shane Robertson let the officers in where police described the interior as in “obvious disrepair and disarray.” They also found the refrigerator door secured with a bicycle lock.
Crystal Robertson explained that the children had been going through so much food t