Couple left 3 kids in filthy home with black mold, admitted 'it's bad' while not letting police inside: Authorities

A couple in Kentucky left their home in such filth that there was black mold and dead bugs in their fridge, with one of them admitting, "I'm embarrassed, it's bad," according to authorities.

Timothy MacDonald and Lana MacDonald were charged with second-degree criminal abuse, according to Pike County jail records. They are not listed as being detained in the Pike County Detention Center as of this writing.

On the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 18, the Kentucky State Police was called to a home on Regina Belcher Highway in Pike County, Kentucky. The area is located in the far east part of the state.

An employee with the Department for Community Based Services was with state troopers when they showed up around 5:30 p.m. for a welfare check, regional CBS affiliate WYMT reported.

Authorities knocked on the door and could apparently hear small children and a dog inside, but no one answered.

An officer then knocked on a window, and a girl cracked the front door open. The child reportedly said their mother was busy working in her bedroom and her father was not home. Around this time, Timothy MacDonald showed up on an ATV.

Troopers are said to have learned that the man had six active warrants in the county, and the woman had four. Lana MacDonald left the home but allegedly would not let troopers inside, saying, "if she was going to jail she was not letting [them] inside."

Timothy MacDonald eventually told his oldest daughter to let them in, according to the local outlet. Authorities found three children — ages 16, 11, and 5 — inside. Only one of the children was wearing a T-shirt, law enforcement said.

The house was apparently in horrible condition. When troopers went into the kitchen and opened the fridge, they said they found it covered in black mold and filled with dead bugs.

The parents were then arrested, and the children were placed into protective custody.