Children rescued from filthy, cockroach-infested Lancaster County motel room; parents charged
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — The discovery of three young children living in filthy conditions at a Lancaster County motel has led to charges being filed against their parents, police said.
The rooms that Cheyenne Lawson, 27, and Trenton Turner, 30, both of Manheim, were living in, along with their young children, were cockroach-infested and filled with trash, according to the charges filed Tuesday by Manheim Borough Police.
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There were also two cats and a dog staying in the one room, which police said had a “very strong smell of being unclean,” according to a criminal complaint.
The three were all under the age of six and were filthy and smelled as if they had not been bathed in a while, police said.
A county Children and Youth worker alerted police about the horrible living conditions at the Penn Woods Inn, located at 2931 Lebanon Road, after 11 a.m. on March 6.
Trash bags and children’s toys filled the motel room, police said, so much so that there was no room to walk around the clutter. One of the trash bags was “overflowing” with soiled diapers and rotten food, police said.
The bathroom was also filled with food and drink containers to the point that the clutter was blocking the sink. A bed was also covered with used food containers, clothes, and boxes, police said.
The CYS worker reported that the room was infested with cockroaches, according to the complaint. One child possibly had a bug, possibly a cockroach, in their hair, police noted.
One of the boys had bruising on his eye, and all over his back, while the other was wearing a diaper that needed changed and had dried mucus all over his face, police said. The girl’s face was covered in dirt and her hair was mattered and knotted, police said.
The children were taken back to the police station where they played in the training room that had to be aired out after the children were gone because the smell was so strong, the criminal complaint said.
The duo faces a felony charge of endangering the welfare of children.
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Both Lawson and Turner are out on unsecured bail set at $1,000 and are awaiting a preliminary hearing scheduled for Aug. 8.
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