A Florida couple was arrested Tuesday after they left their five children in a disgusting apartment with no food, electricity, or working plumbing .
Sanel Canovic, 40, and Azra Nikocevic, 33, were charged with fice counts each of child neglect with no great bodily harm, WTVJ reported.
According to an arrest report, law enforcement was contacted on Tuesday afternoon after a bystander witnessed a 6-year-old child crossing a busy street unattended. Police responded to the scene and located the child, who directed them to his nearby residence.
The witness commented, “The child appeared disheveled. Despite school being out for a few days, he seemed to be in his school uniform. His clothing was too large for him, and his iPad was damaged. Something seemed amiss in terms of his care.”
The arrest report detailed that when officers arrived at the apartment, the eldest child, a 12-year-old girl, opened the door for them. Inside, there were three additional children present. Authorities discovered a dysfunctional stove, standing water, and waste in the inoperable toilet. Furthermore, there was a lack of toilet paper in the household, and the children mentioned they showered after using the restroom.
The children said there’d been no electricity in the apartment for about two months. They also said they hadn’t eaten since about 10 p.m. on Monday.
Officers brought them to the police station to be fed and cared for while police looked for the parents. The children said that Nikocevic worked in a hotel in Miami, but they didn’t know where their father worked.
In an interview, the 12-year-old girl said she took care of her younger siblings while her parents work and that all five children shared a full-sized bed.
“You ea at school, so you don’t eat at home,” she said her father told them.
The girl said the children were hungry often during the holiday break, depending on their parents to bring home food. Sometimes, she said, her mother left a little money to buy food at McDonald’s.
“The parents would frequently share a meal in the evening without providing food for the children,” the reports said. “They would often leave the children at home while they went out to dinner.”
The girl also told investigators that it had been two weeks since the adults did laundry, so the children frequently wore dirty clothes.
Police eventually found Nikocevic, who came to the police station and explained they were behind on their bills and there’d been no electricity for about six weeks. She said she was trying to get assistance and denied depriving the children.
Canovic later came to the police station and spoke with investigators through a Croatian interpreter. He declined to give a statement and requested an attorney.
“The defendant and co-defendant willfully failed to provide adequate care, supervision, and the basic necessities required to maintain the victims’ physical and mental health,” the report said.
Nikocevic and Canovic were booked into jail. Nikocevic was released on her own recognizance, Law&Crime reported, while Canovic remains jailed on a $7,500 bond. The couple is due in court on January 30.
The status of the children is unclear.
