Inset: Jamie Jakes (Leon County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Leon County Courthouse in Tallahassee, Fla. (Google Maps).
A Florida woman was accused of leaving six children by themselves in a filthy home while she went shopping.
Jamie Jakes, 29, was granted pretrial release after she was arrested on Sunday. According to a probable cause affidavit reviewed by Law&Crime, officers with the Tallahassee Police Department were on patrol that morning when they saw a child in the street narrowly avoid being hit by a car. The officers then found more children, and observed that three children were barely dressed; one was wearing only jeans and two were wearing only "soggy diapers."
Police said the children were able to show the officers where they lived and let the officers in the house.
Police said officers found three more children inside the house sleeping on a bed together "without any clothes on." Police said they tried to find clothing for the children, but could only find "shoes and parts of clothing." The rest of the clothing they found "smelled of mildew." There were allegedly no adults in the home at the time.
Police said the home was "unlivable." In the living room, officers observed human waste on the floor. Every room had "diapers and trash" in it and "half-eaten, spoiled food." The refrigerator had "no food," and the freezer contained "freezer-burnt food and bugs."
One of the children, a boy, told police that Jakes had left about two hours earlier to go to the store. She returned to the home around 6 a.m. and was met by police. Jakes was arrested and taken in for questioning.
According to the affidavit, Jakes told police that she paid an acquaintance $150 a week to check in on her children four times from Thursday to Sunday. She said she would bring food to his house "and he keeps it there so the kids do not eat it all or waste it." When asked about the condition of the house, Jakes said the house was "clean the day prior," which police did not believe based on what they saw.
Police spoke with the acquaintance whom Jakes claimed she paid to watch her children, and he said they did not have that kind of arrangement. He told police that he was "not responsible for" the children and he "only helped when he could."
In the affidavit, police wrote that based on statements by witnesses, they believe the children had been left by themselves beginning at 5 p.m. the day before. Police said the children were in the care of a person whose name was redacted from the affidavit.
Jakes was charged with six counts of child neglect. Her next court date was not immediately available.