An Elizabethton woman faces charges after police say her two children were living in “extremely deplorable conditions.”
Elizabethton Police Department Sgt. Curtis Bullock arrested Tosha Ann Whitehead, 23, of 925 Pine Ridge Circle, Apt. B, Elizabethton, on Wednesday and charged her with two counts of child neglect.
Shortly after noon on Wednesday, Bullock was dispatched to the Elizabethton Housing Development Agency apartments located on Pine Ridge Circle on a report of child neglect. On his arrival, Bullock said he spoke with an EHDA employee who had made the report.
“(The employee) then informed me that she had discovered extremely unsanitary living conditions inside of the apartment which two children were living in,” Bullock said.
After speaking with the employee, Bullock said he spoke with the resident of the apartment, whom he identified as Whitehead, regarding the apartment and her two young children.
“Ms. Whitehead then informed me that she had been taking care of her grandmother who had recently passed away and had not been at the apartment for several days,” Bullock said. “Ms. Whitehead further stated that her husband, ‘Jordan Whitehead,’ who she is separated from, had been taking care of her two sons.”
“Ms. Whitehead also stated that her ex-boyfriend, Joshua Barnett, who was also at the apartment while I was on scene, was helping take care of her children while Ms. Whitehead was not at home,” he added.
Bullock said Whitehead initially told him she returned home to the apartment on Tuesday and had been working to clean the apartment but she then changed her story and said she had returned to the apartment on Wednesday morning and then began cleaning.
“I then walked through and inspected the apartment’s living conditions,” Bullock said. “I noticed that every room inside of the apartment was in extremely deplorable conditions.”
“The apartment had gnats and cockroaches everywhere, as well as spoiled food, dirty clothes and soiled diapers,” Bullock added. “I also observed several other items such as a prescription pill bottle and silverware laying on the floor which would have been easily accessible for Ms. Whitehead’s 1-year-old and 3-year-old sons to pick up.”
Bullock said he took photographs to document the condition of the apartment and also notified Child Protective Services, which sent an employee to the apartment to conduct an investigation.
Officers transported Whitehead to the Carter County Detention Center where she was booked into the jail and remains held on a $20,000 bond. Whitehead is expected to be arraigned in General Sessions Court today.