Inset, left to right: Timothy MacDonald and Lana MacDonald (Pike County Detention Center). Background: A stretch of Regina Belcher Highway in Pike County, Ky. (Google Maps).
A Kentucky couple is accused of allowing children to live in a home so unsanitary that investigators allegedly found black mold and dead insects inside the refrigerator, with one of the adults reportedly acknowledging the state of the house by saying, “I’m embarrassed, it’s bad,” authorities said.
Timothy MacDonald and Lana MacDonald were both charged with second-degree criminal abuse, Pike County jail records show. As of this writing, neither appeared to be listed as currently held at the Pike County Detention Center.
The investigation began on the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 18, when Kentucky State Police responded to a residence along Regina Belcher Highway in Pike County, a community in the far eastern region of the state.
Troopers arrived at the home around 5:30 p.m. for a welfare check and were accompanied by an employee from the Department for Community Based Services, regional CBS affiliate WYMT reported.
When authorities knocked, they could reportedly hear young children and a dog inside the residence, but no one initially came to the door.
After an officer knocked on a window, a young girl opened the front door slightly, according to the report. The child allegedly told troopers that her mother was working in a bedroom and that her father was not at home. Around that time, Timothy MacDonald arrived at the property on an ATV.
Troopers then learned Timothy MacDonald had six active warrants in Pike County, while Lana MacDonald had four, according to authorities. Lana MacDonald eventually came outside but allegedly refused to allow troopers into the home, reportedly telling them that “if she was going to jail she was not letting [them] inside.”
Timothy MacDonald eventually told his oldest daughter to let them in, according to the local outlet. Authorities found three children — ages 16, 11, and 5 — inside. Only one of the children was wearing a T-shirt, law enforcement said.
The house was apparently in horrible condition. When troopers went into the kitchen and opened the fridge, they said they found it covered in black mold and filled with dead bugs.
The parents were then arrested, and the children were placed into protective custody.
The post Couple left 3 kids in filthy home with black mold, admitted ‘it’s bad’ while not letting police inside: Authorities first appeared on Law & Crime.
