What to Know
- A FedEx delivery man noticed that a child was home alone in an apartment in the Bronx
- Police broke down the door and found a 5-year-old child in a filthy apartment with bugs and rats
- The boy's parents have been arrested
The apartment where police found a 5-year-old boy left alone had feces smeared on the walls and floor and maggots throughout the apartment, court documents revealed.
The criminal complaint describes the unsanitary conditions in the apartment on Kingsbridge Avenue in the Bronx, where a FedEx worker delivering packages alerted police that the child was home alone.
Along with the maggots, there was blood, garbage, flies and other insects, according to the criminal complaint. Several live rodents were also seen in the apartment, the complaint said.
The boy was home alone from 5 a.m. until about noon on Friday, the complaint said.
Both of the child's parents, an MTA worker and a hospital employee, were arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a minor. They were arraigned late Saturday and bail was set at $15,000 each.
The father told police that the child was home sick from school, the NYPD said.
Local
The couple's three other children, one of whom is a teenager with special needs, were taken into custody by the city, police said.
On Saturday evening, a spokesman for the city's Administration for Children's Services said the agency was working with the NYPD to investigate the incident.
