PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office arrested 26-year-old Jodie Cannon, 30-year-old Jordan Wilson, 50-year-old Melissa Keal and 52-year-old John Keal after detectives discovered the horrific conditions they were living in with four children, one just six weeks old.
It started after the Department of Children and Families reported the state of Cannon and Wilson’s six-week-old infant.
The sheriff’s office says that upon being admitted to the hospital, the infant had a low heart rate, low body temperature and low weight. Without medical intervention, doctors say the infant would’ve died.
A week later, the sheriff’s office conducted a search of Cannon’s home in Florahome, where they discovered the conditions three additional children were living in.
The sheriff’s office says on the walls were feces and black mold, and the ground was covered in uneaten food and cockroaches.
Now the other adults in the home — Wilson, father of the infant and two of the children in the home, and Cannon’s mother and stepfather — are all being charged with child neglect.
All four children have been taken into DCF custody.
Captain Chris Stallings with the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Bureau says every room they entered in the home was worse than the last.
“It’s hard to even put into words what you’re dealing with with this because of the animal activity that was in the house. There’s feces on the floors, feces on the walls,” Stallings said. “One of our SWAT team members, who’s been a SWAT team member for probably 10 years, almost got physically sick trying to come out of the house.”
Stallings also said that at least four dogs and three cats were living on the property.
“It’s hard to even put into words what you’re dealing with with this because of the animal activity that was in the house,” Stallings said. “Where everybody was sleeping was just horrendous, between fleas and flies and just feces, [and] this is just normal everyday living for them, and I don’t understand how you can live in those conditions.”
Cannon is being charged with aggravated child neglect with great bodily harm and child neglect. She’s being held at the Putnam County Jail on a $35,000 bond.
Wilson, Melissa, and John Keal are being charged with child neglect, but the sheriff’s office expects more charges to come. Melissa and John Keal are being held on a $3,000 bond, while Wilson is being held on a $2,500 bond.
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