Mother and father arrested after allegedly running away and leaving daughter alone in house full of dog feces and urine

YOU NEED TO KNOW

• The mother and father of a 14-year-old girl in Alabama have been arrested and charged with child abuse and animal cruelty

• This after the young man was sent to the hospital after she was seen stumbling in the street near a Dollar General store

• Police executed a search warrant at her home and found the interior covered in urine, feces, roaches and trash – and officers also found one dead dog and six other dogs there

A mother and father have been arrested after allegedly leaving their 14-year-old son to live alone with pets in an abusive home.

Marchelle Lynn Pertilla and Eugene Medrano were arrested and charged with child abuse and animal cruelty, according to local outlets WALA, WKRG and KOLD, citing the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office. (MBSO)

PEOPLE reached out to the sheriff’s office for comment on Saturday, Jan. 10, but did not receive an immediate response.

MCSO told local stores that their investigation into the case began on Jan. 4 after employees at Dollar General filed a report of seeing a teenage girl stumbling in the street in front of the store.

When the officers arrived at the scene, they found the girl, who told them that she was experiencing dizziness and stomach pain, and was taken to the hospital for medical treatment.

At the hospital, detectives interviewed the young man, and she claimed that she had been living alone in her house with her dogs since around February of last year and that she had not seen her mother and stepfather since October 31. She also alleged that they moved to Pensacola, Fla., without her, according to KOLD.

She also told officers that her main communication with her parents was through the social media app Snapchat and that her mother would send food through DoorDash or Walmart deliveries, according to the outlet.

The next day, officers along with Prichard Animal Control executed a search warrant at the young man’s mobile home in Eight Mile, which they said was covered in urine, feces, roaches and garbage. They found one dead dog in a closet and six other dogs also living on the property, which were taken by Prichard Animal Control, according to WALA and KOLD.

Detectives said, according to the stores, that they also found a handwritten note from the teenager that was titled “How many times does mom tell me she can’t pick me up!” and said she had 87 tally marks on her.

The officers found the young man’s parents and questioned them about the incident. Pertilla allegedly told detectives that the teenagers were left alone because she refused to leave her service animals, according to KOLD. It was not clear if any of the dogs are service animals.

Pertilla and Medrano were then reportedly taken into custody and transported to the Mobile County Metro Jail.

“We’re still looking for answers as to why this girl was living alone and whether or not others tried to call law enforcement,” Mobile County Sheriff Paul Burch said in a statement to KOLD and WALA.

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“Thank goodness for the employee at Dollar General who contacted the county, and we were able to respond. If you see something, say something. It could mean the difference between life and death,” he added.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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