Malnourished Teen Found In Cockroach-Infested Home

A Louisiana teen has reportedly been rescued from a horrific situation involving a cockroach infested home, but that’s not even the worst part of this case. Fox 10 News reports that the 15-year-old child was so badly malnourished that he weighed only 47 lbs. A shocking thing to note about this case is that the authorities may have never known about this horribly mistreated teen had a cop not shown up at the home on a noise complaint.

An officer with the Baton Rouge police department reportedly showed up at the home on Wednesday morning after complaints had been called in about loud music. When the officer arrived at the residence, he observed that 54-year-old Cathy Fort and 49-year-old Rose Holland were sitting in a vehicle that was parked out front. He initially approached the duo to ask Fort to go inside and turn down the music, which was blaring from the house. That is when the cop noticed a glass pipe and crack cocaine in clear sight in the vehicle with both Holland and Fort.

The Advocate reports that the officer put the women under arrest for possession of drugs and paraphernalia, but when he went inside to check for more drugs, he made an even worse discovery. The teen was found on a cot in the middle of having a grand mal seizure. He was incredibly malnourished, and had a tiny frame far smaller than that of an average 15-year-old boy. The officer, horrified, called for EMS assistance immediately.

When emergency workers arrived, they had to pry the teen from the cot to which he was confined. The workers told police that the boy was literally stuck to the cot, adhered by feces and urine that had worked as a sort of cement after being left for several days. That wasn’t even the worst part of this horrifying discovery. The malnourished teen was found living among insects, including cockroaches, and many of which had bitten him. He was reportedly covered in bug bites and bed sores when he was taken in by emergency workers. Details shared by The Advocate indicate that the boy was removed from school by his mother at one point, and was referred to as a “baby” by people who knew the family. However, it hasn’t been clarified as to when the boy was in school or when people actually last saw him. At 15-years-old, he reportedly still suckled from a bottle like a baby and wore diapers, so it’s hard to tell if anyone who wasn’t close to the family even knew how old the child was.

The teen is currently recovering in the hospital but there are no updates available regarding his condition.

[Photo: Baton Rouge Police mugshot]