Children found living in deplorable conditions during drug arrest
Police said the apartment was full of animal feces.
Worcester police said members of their vice squad discovered three children living in a squalid, feces-filled apartment while executing a search warrant on King Street Friday evening.
When officers entered the apartment belonging to targets of the warrant — Sheyla Montalvo, 24, and Natasha Riley-Murphy, 29 — they discovered three young children, ages 6, 5, and 3, and a 39-year-old woman.
It was immediately apparent to the officers that the apartment was infested with mice — most of the floor was covered in “large amounts’’ of animal feces and the children’s room was covered in mice feces, according to police.
“Mice could be heard running above the officers in the drop ceiling and at one point a cat came out of from under the sink with a live mouse in its mouth,’’ the department said in a statement.
Police said two of the children belonged Montalvo while the third belonged to a visiting relative.
During the search of the apartment, officers said they found a backpack containing 99 oxycodone pills, two bags of marijuana, three cell phones, and $3,382 in cash. Officers also said they found one bag of cocaine when they searched Riley-Murphy, who had been detained earlier with Montalvo during a traffic stop.
Case workers from the Department of Children and Families arrived after being contacted by police and took custody of all three children, according to the department.
Both Montalvo and Riley-Murphy were arrested. Montalvo has been charged with trafficking a class B substance, drug violation within 100 feet of a park, and conspiracy to violate the controlled substance act. Riley-Murphy faces the same charges, in addition to possession of a class B substance and possession of a class B substance with intent to distribute, second or subsequent offense.
The pair will be arraigned Monday in Worcester County District Court, according to police.
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