THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503050058
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
A mother of five was arrested Friday and charged with keeping a home so filthy and unsanitary that it endangered her children, police said Saturday.
It was the second time in two days that city detectives removed children from unclean houses.
A detective who went to the Salem Woods home in the 4600 block of Revere Drive said trash was piled 4 feet deep in the two-car garage and animal feces were strewn throughout the house.
Four of five cats were tied to litter boxes, and there were also several birds and pet rodents in the home, police said.
The homeowner, a 43-year-old former school teacher, was charged with one count of child endangerment for each of her five children.
Police identified her as Mary Davis.
Davis' children - two boys ages 6 and 10, and three girls ages 12, 14 and 17 - were placed in the care of Social Services workers, police said.
Detective Tommy Lewis discovered the unsanitary conditions when he went to the home Friday morning to serve an unrelated search warrant.
Lewis said the father is under investigation for abusing at least one of his daughters and the detective had gone to the house to search for evidence.
Police spokesman Mike Carey said the father, who was not identified because he hasn't been charged with a crime, no longer lives with the family.
The father is in the custody of Navy authorities, Carey said.
Carey declined to say why the father was in custody.
Police have gone to the Davis' home 11 times in the past year for various complaints or investigations, Carey said. He declined to elaborate.
It took detectives more than nine hours to search the home for evidence, partly because of the squalor, Lewis said.
The detective said trash in the garage was piled so high he had to duck when he walked across the garbage so he wouldn't scrape his head on the ceiling.
``It isn't against the law to be a poor housekeeper, but it is against the law to maintain an environment that puts a child's health or life in danger,'' Carey said.
Child endangerment is a felony.
On Thursday, detectives investigated similar conditions at a home in the 700 block of Taft Ave.
There, police arrested a 23-year-old mother for child neglect because her unsanitary residence was dangerous to her sons, both younger than 3, investigators said.
Davis, the woman arrested in Friday's investigation, is in jail on $10,000 bail, Carey said.
Her children appeared physically healthy, police said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Mary Davis, 43, a former school teacher, was arrested Friday and her
children were placed in the care of Social Services workers,
following a detectives' discovery of unsanitary conditions.
KEYWORDS: CHILD NEGLECT ARREST by CNB