GREENFIELD — In what investigators described as deplorable conditions, seven children, four adults and over a dozen animals were living in a residence filled with trash and reeking of waste.
The situation has led to arrest warrants being issued for the four adults, who are now facing felony neglect charges after one of the children living in the residence had to be rushed to the hospital.
The young girl was found by paramedics to be “unresponsive and not breathing” when they responded to a call for help, officials said in a probable cause affidavit.
Jennifer L. Barnes, 49; Jacqueline Fogleman, 31; Sheldon Fogleman III, 33; and Annastasia Cole, 29, all from Greenfield, have been charged with a Level 3 felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury; six Level 6 felony counts of neglect of a dependent; and a Class A misdemeanor count of cruelty to an animal. The most serious charge carries a sentence of up to 16 years in prison.
Deputies with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department were working to get all four suspects in custody, but none had been arrested as of the Daily Reporter’s deadline on Tuesday, June 22.
Cole and Sheldon Fogleman III had been arrested May 14, at the time of the incident, but were facing only a lesser neglect charge at that time and were released from jail.
According to the probable cause affidavit, paramedics were called to a home in the 7000 block of West County Road 100N on May 14 to assist a female child who had stopped breathing. The girl, who first-responders learned has severe asthma, was outside the residence on the front porch when medics arrived. The girl was revived and transported to Riley Hospital for Children.
Once released from the hospital the child was placed with family at another location, officials said in the affidavit. Six other children also were removed from the residence.
A deputy who stepped inside the home to try to identify the room where the girl had become ill discovered piles of trash inside. The odor inside the house was “awful,” the deputy said, and he soon had to go back outside to catch his breath, the affidavit said.
After the adults who were on the scene would not let deputies re-enter the house, deputies requested the six remaining children and adults be removed from the residence while officials secured a warrant to search the property.
The state of the house was so bad the fire department had to be called back to the scene to provide officers with hazmat suits and air tanks so they could go inside and investigate once the warrant was secured.
Due to the toxic smell coming from the residence, investigators also decided to ask the Indianapolis Fire Department to bring its special equipment to test the level of ammonia in the house. The tests showed the ammonia was nearly twice the level considered toxic, the affidavit said.
Officers described the home as “covered in trash with fecal matter spread throughout the house,” the affidavit said. They described the smell as overwhelming. One of the adults told investigators that there was a raw sewage leak in the basement. Officials noted the basement had standing water, and upon closer inspection the home’s septic tank apparently had suffered a failure and the contents were backing up into the basement.
Four dogs were in the residence, including three found in the basement, the affidavit said.
In what was assumed to be the dining room area of the residence, officials noted piles of refuse.
“This trash and other items were stacked up to the ceiling in parts of this room,” the affidavit said.
When detectives walked through the kitchen, they encountered a “cloud of house flies,” the affidavit said.
Animal control was called to the scene and took possession of four dogs, one cat, nine rabbits and two bearded dragons.
The warrants were issued June 17 by Judge D.J. Davis in Hancock County Superior Court 1. He will handle the initial appearances by the four accused of neglect after they have been booked into the Hancock County Jail.
