Couple charged in child welfare case

Complaint says 6-year-old surrounded by rotting food, ‘abundance of flies’

Altoona police on Wednesday charged a city couple with felony child endangerment and neglect of animals because of unsanitary conditions discovered when a probation/parole officer -- who had been involved because of prior child endangerment allegations -- visited the couple's home on the 800 block of First Avenue.

Travis J. Huff, 35, and Amanda M. Huff, 36, are in Blair County Prison, each in lieu of $25,000 cash bail, according to online court filings.

When the probation/parole officer arrived, the front door was ajar, according to the complaint.

In the living room, there was trash all over, according to the complaint.

In the kitchen, there were dirty dishes, rotting food in pans and hundreds of flies on and around the sink and stove, along with open trash bags containing rotten food with flies swarming above them all over the floor, according to the complaint.

Upstairs, there was an "abundance of flies," with rotting food and trash completely surrounding a bed on which was seated a 6-year-old child, according to the complaint.

There were two dogs in kennels in the living room, and cat and dog feces smeared into the living room floor from being trampled, according to the complaint.

And there were several hanging fly traps covered with flies in the living room and kitchen, according to the complaint.

The family had moved to the residence in the spring, had moved to a motel late last week because the water had been shut off, but had returned to the residence Wednesday because the water had been turned back on, according to the complaint.

In addition to the 6-year-old, the couple also have a 16-year-old, who was at work when the authorities visited Wednesday, according to the complaint.

Code officers "redtagged" the residence as uninhabitable, according to the complaint.

A Central Pennsylvania Humane Society officer took custody of the two dogs, a cat and a guinea pig, based on the family having failed "to provide clean and sanitary living conditions, according to the complaint.

Blair County Children and Youth Services placed both children with family members, according to the complaint.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.