A 3-year-old covered in dirt running alone in a neighborhood alerted an officer to check on the welfare of even more children, according to a Boynton Beach Police report.
Officers arrested Erika Cassagnol and Anderson Dallegrand, of Boynton Beach, accusing them of keeping three children in a house of filth
The officer reported seeing the child running in the cul-de-sac near the home on the 240 block of NW 28th Ave. Wednesday afternoon wearing a dirty diaper. The officer was on another Department of Children and Families call in the area when she saw the boy.
Officers say an 8-year-old and 12-year-old were also left in the home alone for the day.
When investigators went into the home, they noticed dirty bowls of food and a smell of rotting and urine inside the home.
The refrigerator in the kitchen didn’t work and rat feces were on the shelves inside of it, an arrest report states. The bedrooms also had food on the floor and dirty clothes scattered around.
Cassagnol and Dallegrand reportedly are known to DCF.
“The older children are left alone and often don’t go to school because they have no clean clothes,” according to an arrest document. The home is filthy with crawling roaches in every room and the toilet is not connected to the floor, according to the investigator.
When the officer knocked on the door, Dallegrand's breath smelled like alcohol and one of the children ran out the door. Dallegrand tried to go after the child but almost fell walking out, the officer reported.
The report alleges that Dallegrand is an “ extreme alcoholic” and has frequent seizures so he needs to be in rehab.
The older children told the officer Dallengrand had just come home from the hospital and they were home alone all day.
Cassagnol came home while the officers were still in the home and told them she left the children home since Dallengrand was in the hospital and didn’t send them to school because she had to work.
She said the sinks in the house haven’t worked for over two years and she hasn’t done anything to fix them but let the landlord know.
Court records show Cassagnol and Dallegrand married in 2015.
Cassagnol and Dallegrand were booked into the Palm Beach County Jail.