19 Children Found Living in Roach-Infested Apartment

Chicago Police Department officers staging a drug raid on a two-bedroom apartment Wednesday instead found 19 small children living in utter squalor, eating out of dog bowls and sleeping on the floor among hordes of cockroaches.

“I saw babies everywhere,” said Police Officer Linda Burns. “The apartment was filthy. I’m talking feces, garbage, food on the floor. I don’t know how to describe it--it was just filth.”

Two adults were in the apartment when police arrived, and four more showed up while police were there. The adults were charged with contributing to the neglect of a child, a misdemeanor.

Seventeen of the children were under 8 years old. Several soiled tots shared an unmade roach-covered mattress on the floor of a room with crumbling walls. Another six children slept on the floor wearing only dirty underwear. Two small children were found squabbling over a neck bone with a dog. The stove was inoperable and the refrigerator held only moldy, crusted food.

A 4-year-old boy who suffered from cerebral palsy lay on the cold floor. Police said he showed signs of abuse, including bruises and what appeared to be cigarette burns on his body.

The boy was taken to a hospital, and the others to a Department of Children and Family Services shelter. Angry police officers said the oldest child, a 14-year-old, acted more responsibly than the adults did in helping the police find clothing among the mess for the rest of the children. Not one clean diaper could be found.

The police were admitted to the apartment by Maxine Melton, 26, the mother of five of the children. Police said she also had taken in at least three displaced sisters, their 14 children and two men related to some of the children.

The mother of two of the children was traced later Wednesday to a hospital where she had just given birth to her third child.

One hour after being booked, the adults fell asleep in the holding cell. “That’s as much as they gave a heck about their kids,” said Lt. Fred Bosse.