Authorities in Polk County, Florida have arrested a former DCF worker and her husband after they were found living with two children in inhumane conditions inside an extremely filthy home.
43-year-old Tawnya White and 39-year-old Devin White were arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect following the Saturday shocking discovery at their Alturas Babson Park home.
Deputies found a 7-month-old baby and a 7-year-old child living inside the home filled with trash, dog feces, and urine.
Four of five dogs found on the property were kept inside the residence where ammonia levels reached levels well above the OSHA standards.
“The house was an absolute disaster. There was feces and urine all over the place,” Sheriff Grady Judd said.
“She went to work every day and gave advice of how to clean up houses, how to take care of children, how to avoid the same circumstances that she was living in at home. That was her job. So she knew better.”
Tawnya White told investigators that she had tried to clean up the home but couldn’t do it alone since she worked full time and her husband was injured in a car crash.
The baby appeared to suffer delayed development due to the fact he had been kept in a bassinet all day.
“She clearly knew that her children were living in an inappropriate environment because she wouldn’t allow her own bosses to come in and look around,” Judd said.
“We just can’t believe she would expose her children to that, especially after seeing the horror that she saw in 13 years as a CPI investigator.”
