A 49-year-old woman was arrested Saturday afternoon in St. Lucie County after a child was found living in filthy conditions.
According to a Department of Children and Families report, five people were found living at a home on Shannon Drive that contained roaches, ants, dirty dishes and other junk.
The mother of the house, identified as Betty Rae Perkins, told a DCF investigator that one child and four adults live at the home.
The investigator said the "home was deplorable and cluttered" and had "ants and roaches running along the floor entering the home."
"The kitchen eating area was completely blocked with car parts, boxes and what appeared to be junk," stated the report. "On the counter top were stacked dirty dishes with roaches climbing all over them."
One bedroom smelled of very heavy smoke and another room had auto parts cluttered and lying around.
Perkins told the investigator that the child slept in the living room on an air mattress with her.
"The living conditions were extremely unsanitary and unfit for anyone," the report said.
Perkins was arrested on charges of child neglect without great bodily harm and taken to the St. Lucie County Jail.
The child was placed in the care of a family friend.
