2 arrested after Buckeye kids found living in filthy, fly-infested home
Oct 9, 2018, 9:53 AM | Updated: 6:47 pm
(MCSO photos)
(MCSO photos)
PHOENIX — Two people in Buckeye were arrested on child abuse charges after law enforcement officials found three children in an “unhealthy and unlivable” home.
Zachary Pacheco, 27, and Alsatia Inks, 23, were arrested on three counts of child abuse and three counts of endangering the life and health of a minor after two of their children showed up at a neighbor’s home, saying they did not know where their parents were.
The children, ages 2 and 5, came to a neighbor’s door in the area of Watson and Yuma roads around 4:45 p.m. on Friday. The 2-year-old was wearing a diaper and was covered in feces, while the 5-year-old was naked.
The neighbor, according to ABC15, did not get an answer after knocking on the door and called police. Officers then found Inks locked in the master bedroom at her computer with headphones on. She also had a 5-year-old child with her.
Inks told officers that she was unaware that the children had gotten out of the house.
Law enforcement officials said the home was in “deplorable conditions,” describing it as “unhealthy and unlivable.”
Food, trash, toys, clothing and flies were all over the place and the walls were filthy, police said. Several large knives were also on the floor, readily accessible to the children.
One neighbor told ABC15 that they were not aware that the couple even had children, while another said they would have never guessed that the children were living in such poor conditions.
“I don’t think anybody knew. I didn’t even know they had kids in there,” Mayra Ramirez, who lives across the street, told the television station.
“I wouldn’t have assumed anything, from the way she dresses her daughter in the morning for school and has her backpack on, and walks her to the bus stop like all the other parents,” Jameela Smith, who lives two houses down, said.
“She holds her hand, she tells her when to cross the street, stuff like that.”
Buckeye police told ABC15 that officers were called last year to a different home where the family was living. That home, police said, also had “days old food, trash and feces” throughout.
It was not immediately known whether the state Department of Child Safety ever followed up after the April 2017 visit.
Both Pacheco and Inks will appear in court next on Oct. 19.
