Teh One Who Knocks
03-05-2014, 12:47 PM
by Colleen Kottke - Action Reporter Media
http://i.imgur.com/A6dD15D.jpg
TOWN OF BURNETT — A Dodge County woman is accused of child neglect after deputies removed her children from what they described as “deplorable” living conditions in a town of Burnett home.
Child neglect resulting in bodily harm charges were filed in Dodge County Circuit Court against Secoy S. Koch-Miller. The 25-year-old town of Burnett woman is expected to make her initial court appearance on March 10.
Dodge County Sheriff’s Office Detective Theodore Sullivan was alerted to the situation by a Dodge County Jail inmate on Nov. 11. The man said he was concerned for his newborn daughter and the child’s 2-year-old stepbrother who were living with Koch-Miller at her mother’s residence on County Trunk BI, according to a criminal complaint.
The man told Sullivan living conditions in the home were “deplorable” and the home was “essentially uninhabitable,” according to the complaint.
The inmate said the home had no hot running water and the septic tank was full to the point where they could not flush the toilet. He also mentioned that the home had black mold in the basement. The inmate said Koch-Miller’s mother was a “hoarder” and the 2-year-old was confined to a Pack & Play and not allowed to walk around the home due to the clutter, according to the complaint.
Before his incarceration last summer, the inmate told Department of Health Services officials he had burned 78 bags of garbage he had removed from the home, according to the complaint.
Dodge County public health officials reported that they had attempted to check on the well-being of Koch-Miller and her children but had been denied access to the home. A special inspection warrant was completed by Corporation Counsel Zev Kianovsky and signed by Judge Steven Bauer, according to the complaint.
Two Dodge County deputies accompanied Sullivan and human services workers to the home on Nov. 21. At the home inspectors were greeted by a strong odor of animal feces and urine and rotting food. They found maggots in the refrigerator, toilets full of human waste and mouse feces and clutter throughout the home (which, at times, prevented officials from being able to open doors), according to the complaint.
Dodge County Human Services representatives decided to remove the children from the home and place them in foster care. A township official was contacted to remove a dog and cat from the residence on the grounds of animal neglect. Sullivan told Koch-Miller’s mother, Betty Koch-Miller, that the township may condemn the home due to unfit living conditions, according to the complaint.
According to medical reports, the 2-year-old child was covered with bug bites and had a bruised eye, and his hair was full of spiders and spider eggs. At the time of his removal from the home, the toddler weighed only 20 pounds — 10th percentile for a child that age — and was sick and running a fever. The foster parent reported that the child was initially able to eat only three macaroni noodles. In the following week, she reported that the child had developed a “voracious appetite” and gained two pounds, according to the report.
The report also indicated the toddler was black in color because he was covered in filth. The infant, however, was in relatively good health with some respiratory illness and possible child abuse, according to the complaint.
Town of Burnett Supervisor Gerry Beier said the house is currently vacant.
“We’ve given Betty Koch Miller until spring to remove personal items from her home and then we will start the condemnation process,” said Beier, who toured the home with sheriff’s deputies. “The inside of that house was beyond belief. It’s not fit for human habitation.”
http://i.imgur.com/A6dD15D.jpg
TOWN OF BURNETT — A Dodge County woman is accused of child neglect after deputies removed her children from what they described as “deplorable” living conditions in a town of Burnett home.
Child neglect resulting in bodily harm charges were filed in Dodge County Circuit Court against Secoy S. Koch-Miller. The 25-year-old town of Burnett woman is expected to make her initial court appearance on March 10.
Dodge County Sheriff’s Office Detective Theodore Sullivan was alerted to the situation by a Dodge County Jail inmate on Nov. 11. The man said he was concerned for his newborn daughter and the child’s 2-year-old stepbrother who were living with Koch-Miller at her mother’s residence on County Trunk BI, according to a criminal complaint.
The man told Sullivan living conditions in the home were “deplorable” and the home was “essentially uninhabitable,” according to the complaint.
The inmate said the home had no hot running water and the septic tank was full to the point where they could not flush the toilet. He also mentioned that the home had black mold in the basement. The inmate said Koch-Miller’s mother was a “hoarder” and the 2-year-old was confined to a Pack & Play and not allowed to walk around the home due to the clutter, according to the complaint.
Before his incarceration last summer, the inmate told Department of Health Services officials he had burned 78 bags of garbage he had removed from the home, according to the complaint.
Dodge County public health officials reported that they had attempted to check on the well-being of Koch-Miller and her children but had been denied access to the home. A special inspection warrant was completed by Corporation Counsel Zev Kianovsky and signed by Judge Steven Bauer, according to the complaint.
Two Dodge County deputies accompanied Sullivan and human services workers to the home on Nov. 21. At the home inspectors were greeted by a strong odor of animal feces and urine and rotting food. They found maggots in the refrigerator, toilets full of human waste and mouse feces and clutter throughout the home (which, at times, prevented officials from being able to open doors), according to the complaint.
Dodge County Human Services representatives decided to remove the children from the home and place them in foster care. A township official was contacted to remove a dog and cat from the residence on the grounds of animal neglect. Sullivan told Koch-Miller’s mother, Betty Koch-Miller, that the township may condemn the home due to unfit living conditions, according to the complaint.
According to medical reports, the 2-year-old child was covered with bug bites and had a bruised eye, and his hair was full of spiders and spider eggs. At the time of his removal from the home, the toddler weighed only 20 pounds — 10th percentile for a child that age — and was sick and running a fever. The foster parent reported that the child was initially able to eat only three macaroni noodles. In the following week, she reported that the child had developed a “voracious appetite” and gained two pounds, according to the report.
The report also indicated the toddler was black in color because he was covered in filth. The infant, however, was in relatively good health with some respiratory illness and possible child abuse, according to the complaint.
Town of Burnett Supervisor Gerry Beier said the house is currently vacant.
“We’ve given Betty Koch Miller until spring to remove personal items from her home and then we will start the condemnation process,” said Beier, who toured the home with sheriff’s deputies. “The inside of that house was beyond belief. It’s not fit for human habitation.”