MANCHESTER, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two parents were arrested and the Department of Chidrens' Services was called after deputies found eight children in poor condition and "very malnourished" in a mobile home.
According to the Coffee County Sheriff's Office's incident report, the children were discovered during a welfare check at the home on Riddle Road.
A woman in the mobile home park called police after seeing a child going through trash cans in the area trying to find food and water.
Deputies found the child, but she ran away from them. They found her a second time, but that's when they say the little girl "...ran up a mattress that was leaned against trailer, and went through an open window."
The deputies talked with the Andrea Arthur and Alonzo Maxin at the home, who said they were the child's parents. They let the deputies inside where they then found the seven other children in poor, dirty conditions.
The deputies described the room where they found the children saying there were "roaches all over the floor, cat and dog feces, urine, food, and a lot of clutter/trash" and said the children "appeared dirty, very malnourished, their clothes did not fit, and it appeared they had lice."
Arthur said she homeschools the children. The kids told officials "they get locked in the bed room at night and when they get in trouble."
Both Arthur and Maxin were arrested and charged with eight counts of child abuse or neglect.
