(KNX 1070) -- A Florida mother of five is facing multiple counts of child neglect after one of her children is reported at school with a backpack infested with cockroaches.
Jessica Stevenson, 33, received a call from several teachers at one of her children's schools, saying that the little girl had "poor hygiene" and appeared not to have changed her clothes in several weeks. Her five children are between the ages of 5 and 14.
The child told a behavior coach that she had no memory of the last time she'd bathed. When the coach offered the child new clothes, the sheriff's office report said the child had been wearing bathing suit bottoms caked with feces and soaked in urine. The behavior coach notified the Department of Child Protective Services and deputies were called to the Stevenson home to investigate. They found empty shelves in the kitchen and rotting food in the refrigerator, and the home was crawling with cockroaches.
Stevenson's bedroom was the exception. A moderate infestation was present, and she had a storage of snacks.
According to WTSP, another teacher filed a DCF report earlier in the year in response to three elementary school-aged children.
At the time, that teacher told deputies she had met with Stevenson, who "immediately berated her after assuming it was her who called DCF," the report says.
Stevenson has paid her bond and been released from jail.