The filth from room 414 of the Marietta motel was spilling out the door. People walking by were tracking crumbs through the hallway.
That’s what Cobb County police officers reported seeing first while responding to a call of an altercation Monday at the InTown Suites on Roswell Road, said Sgt. Dana Pierce, police spokesman.
Tiffany Mathis let the officers into the room.
What officers saw inside led them to arrest Mathis, of Riverdale, and Sanchez Lampkin, of Acworth, each on five felony counts of first-degree child cruelty — one for each child inside. Lampkin was also booked on a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge, jail records show. Police did not provide the children’s ages.
Pierce said marijuana and several syringes were within arm’s reach of the children. It was tough to walk without stepping on food. Dirty cloths were thrown about.
Mathis told police “that her husband was a drug dealer and brought his clients up to their room to sell multiple times,” according to a warrant.
Police also reported that “neither of the parents had jobs and were living off of government assistance.”
Officers arrived about midnight. Two of the children told investigators that all they’d eaten that day was a big bag of Takis, a snack food.
The department briefly described the scene in a post on its Facebook page as "deplorable conditions, including open drug use, needles left on the floor, and trash throughout."
One of the officers found a baby crying on the floor and picked the child up. “They bonded immediately,” according to the post, which has been shared more than 300 times and garnered 1,500 reactions.
The officer held the baby until staff came to place all the children into protective custody.
“These kinds of dispatches have a lasting effect on the officers involved,” the post ended.
As of Friday afternoon, jail records showed both Lampkin and Mathis remained in custody.
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