Inset: Krystal Farmer (Genesee County Prosecutor's Office). Background: Body camera footage of Krystal Farmer's home in Flint, Mich. (Flint Township Police Department).
A Michigan woman whose two children were found by themselves in a filthy home pleaded guilty, but left the door open to change her mind.
Krystal Farmer, 27, was charged with two counts of child abandonment, four counts of child abuse, and lying to police after Flint Police Department officers responded to her home in February following a call for a welfare check. Once inside, officers found her two children — ages 3 and 4, both with special needs — alone in the home. The department shared body camera footage of the home and said it was covered in trash, the walls smeared with human waste, and one of the young boys was eating "raw, spoiled meat." The other boy was hiding on a bedroom floor.
On Monday, Farmer pleaded guilty to all seven counts, but according to local ABC affiliate WJRT, she could take it back if she disagrees with the sentence.
WJRT reported that Farmer requested a Cobbs evaluation, based on People v. Cobbs, which gives defendants an opportunity to hear an estimate of their sentence before committing to a guilty or no contest plea.
According to police, a concerned neighbor called 911 for a welfare check at the home on Feb. 18. Local CBS affiliate WNEM spoke to one neighbor, Christy Ogles-Campbell, who told the station she suspected that something was going on at the home "at least since September." After finding out about the state of the home and the children, she said, "I never ever could have imagined that that was actually what was going on in that house."
Police said Farmer lied to them when they questioned her, but they dismantled her purported story and determined that she left the two boys home for days.
While inside the home, police said they found the floor covered in trash "so thickly" that officers "couldn't take a normal step." A faucet was left running, overflowing onto the floor. Police said, "It was a house that had been reduced to survival conditions."
In their Facebook post, Flint police said the boys were "now safe" because one neighbor "spoke up."
Farmer is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 19.