Background: The home where children were allegedly found living in squalid conditions in Chattanooga, Tenn. (WTVC). Insets, top to bottom: Leon Woods and Carol Phillips (Hamilton County (Tenn.) Sheriff’s Office).
Authorities in Tennessee have charged a couple with child neglect after allegedly discovering two young children living in appalling conditions. The Chattanooga residence was reportedly overrun with cockroaches and clutter, with furniture obstructing the main entrance.
Leon Woods, 65, and Carol Phillips, 36, are facing allegations of neglect following a wellness check that revealed the dire situation. The children, both in diapers, included a 1-year-old. This distressing scene at their home followed a police visit prompted by a dispute between the pair, as reported by local ABC affiliate WTVC.
According to the station, based on a probable cause affidavit, officers were unable to approach the front entrance due to several tables blocking the way, forcing them to knock on a window instead. Woods eventually responded and let them inside.
Upon entry, the officers were reportedly taken aback by the conditions they encountered. The air was said to be thick with the stench of decaying food and unwashed bodies, and the interior was so cluttered that moving through the home was difficult. Cockroaches were present not only on the porch and in the refrigerator but also crawled on the officers themselves, the report noted.
Once inside, the officers were reportedly horrified by what they found.
The smell of rotting food and body odor reportedly permeated the air, and the house was so filthy, there was no clear walkway throughout the house, law enforcement claim. Roaches covered the items that sat on the front porch and the food in the refrigerator — and were also crawling on the officers as well, according to the report.
Police reportedly spotted one child in the house wearing only a diaper, crawling around the floor — which, the officers, noted, was also covered in roaches. That’s when Woods allegedly told the officers that there was another child in the house — a 1-year-old found lying face down on a dirty mattress in a bedroom.
The house was said to be filled with dangerous clutter, including a sharp metal gate and nails on the floor, according to police.
A neighbor told the TV station she had spent weeks worrying about the safety of the children, and said police had visited the house multiple times before the parents were finally arrested.
“This child would just scream, and we would report it, and the police would go, and then the police would leave, and I never understood why nothing was getting done,” said the neighbor, who did not want to be identified. She also reportedly filed two child abuse reports in recent months.
Court records show Woods and Phillips have a court date scheduled for Dec. 5.
Woods is listed on the Tennessee sex offender registry as an “offender against children” and has also been charged with violating his conditions of supervision.
