Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Alex Cabrero Reporting 911 dispatchers got a disturbing phone call; a 12-year old boy told them his mother wasn't feeding him or his three siblings.
Dwayne Baird, Salt Lake City Police Dept.: "It was deplorable. Our officers found conditions just beyond belief."
As police officers walked toward the house they just knew it would be something they'd never forget.
Det. Dwayne Baird: "Every piece of furniture in the front room had old, rotting food either on it or ground into it."
And that was only the front room.
Det. Dwayne Baird: "The place stunk. Officers went into various rooms of the house, and progressively throughout the house conditions got worse."
The woman who lived there did so with her four children. Monday her 12-years old son called 911 and said his mother wasn't feeding him, or his siblings, ages five, three, and one.
Det. Dwayne Baird: "That's the person he should be able to count on the most in his entire life is his mother, and he couldn't even count on her to feed him and his brother."
Chris Olsen, Neighbor: "It's wrong, the police are wrong."
Chris Oslen, a neighbor, say it's not that bad.
Chris Oslen: "She's a very good mom, and the police are making it look like she's not a good mom. Her kids are spoiled, that's the problem."
Another neighbor who baby sits for the woman says the mother would never do anything to jeopardize her children's health.
Heather Gallegos, Neighbor: "Bad mom is not in her category I'd say."
Regardless, the four children were placed with their grandmother, who already had custody of two of her daughter's other children.
Chris Olsen: "Kids now can't be punished. The cops come and take them away."
The Department of Child and Family Services is investigating. Police say the mother probably won't be charged. Children's Services will work with her to teach her what she was doing isn't considered right or healthy for her kids.
