The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a Venice couple for child cruelty after finding their family was living in a home filled with raw sewage.
Deputies went to the home on Cowry Road yesterday to arrest 26-year-old Kristina Reilly on a warrant for Petit Theft. Inside the home deputies noticed a strong smell of human waste. The couple explained that there was a septic backup at least five days ago which left about an inch of sewage in some rooms and saturated the carpeting in others but they hadn’t gotten around to cleaning it.
Deputies then located two young children in a room with a dirty mattress in the middle of the floor and pillows covered in mildew. Deputies also found a needle and spoon with drug residue on it in the master bedroom, and a marijuana bong in the living room.
In addition to Reilly’s arrest on the warrant, she is charged with one count of Child Cruelty. Twenty-nine year old James McArdle was taken into custody on one count of Child Cruelty and one count of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
The children are in protective custody with the Department of Children and Families.