Four Cobb County brothers are now in state custody after they were found living in filth and in need of medical attention, and their parents and an uncle remained in jail Tuesday night.
The boys, ages 14, 13, 12 and 8, were living in an Austell-area home infested with roaches, spiders and lice, according to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
All four boys had decayed teeth, and the oldest had a foot injury so severe it will require surgery, the warrant states.
But the three adults living in the home, including the children’s mother, father and uncle, failed to get medical help, according to Cobb County police. The boys did not attend schools and lacked the communication skills needed to be interviewed, police said.
On Saturday, police arrested the three adults who lived in the home. Jennifer Ruth Hollis, 52, Tony Darren Elmore, 53, and Robert Lee Hollis, 37, were each charged with four counts of first degree child cruelty, according to Cobb County jail records.
The three adults “did commit the offense of cruelty to children in the first degree when said accused did willfully deprive the child of necessary sustenance to the extent that the child’s health or well-being is jeopardized,” the arrest warrant states.
Neighbor Charles Baliff told Channel 2 Action News he didn’t realize four boys lived inside the Pinecrest Drive home.
Cobb County police had not investigated the adults prior to the weekend arrests, Officer Mike Bowman said Tuesday.
But Elmore has a criminal record and is a convicted felon who spent just over four years in prison following a rape conviction, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections. Elmore was imprisoned from August 1990 until November 1994 following his conviction in Thomas County and is also a registered sex offender.
All three suspects remained Tuesday night in the Cobb County jail, where they were each being held on $100,000 bond, jail records show.
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