PD: No running water in home with kids

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Police say the living conditions inside of a Portsmouth home were bad enough to charge the parents of three young kids with child neglect.

According to Jan Clark with the Portsmouth Police Department, police were dispatched to a home in the 80 block of Decatur Street Jan. 19 for a living conditions reference call.

When police arrived to the home, Clark said they found an adult man with three children aged 2, 7 and 8. The man was not related to the children, and officers found animal waste throughout the home.

Clark said a dog was found roaming inside of the house and another was inside of a crate too small for its size.

The home had not had running water for approximately a week.

The parents of the children, 29-year-old Theodore Sykes and 29-year-old Jenetta Sykes were charged with three counts each of felony child neglect.

Clark said the children were removed from the home and taken to another location by a family member.