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Details of filthy home repulsive

One of the more disgusting stories we can recall was reported on in the Mirror last week.

Jennina R. Pratt of 411 23rd St. in Altoona was arraigned on five counts of endangering the welfare of a child after Altoona police found her five children “sitting in the living room with roaches crawling on them and their clothes,” Patrolman Nichole Douglas noted in court records.

Pratt, 33, was placed in Blair County Prison. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for today.

We can not imagine what explanation this excuse for a mother can provide.

Police said cockroaches were in every part of the house, even “pouring out of the oven and crawling on the dishes” in the kitchen.

The children’s legs were covered with bites from the cockroaches, police said, and the home reeked of cat urine. Police encountered animal feces in the upstairs of the home, where the children slept, and “bugs were seeping out of the mattress and box springs.”

When a mattress was moved, “hundreds of roaches came running out” from between the box spring and mattress, police said, and the children’s beds were also covered with dirt, mold and urine.

The children were taken to a safe environment.

Several cats, some in cages, were in the home, and an emaciated dog was found tied up on the back porch. The malnourished dog was found on a short leash with no food or water. Its bones were protruding from its back, and it appeared to be in “very poor health,” police said.

A summary charge of cruelty to animals was filed along with the felony counts.

Pratt was jailed in lieu of 10 percent of $30,000 bail.

Pratt probably won’t be anxious to get out of jail anytime soon, and that’s a good thing.

Her children will be safe, and her jail cell will be a whole lot cleaner than the squalor she forced her children to live in.

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