CORTLAND, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- Police raiding a house for suspected illegal drugs found a 5-year-old boy weighing just 15 pounds, suffering from Down syndrome and sitting in diapers full of his own waste. Lice covered his body.
The boy's mother, Judy Gratton, was charged Friday with first-degree assault.
Police said the home was littered with bags of garbage, dirty diapers and cockroaches.
Cortland police Chief James Nichols said it was one of the worst cases of child abuse his department had seen. "The officers were horrified," he said.
A typical 5-year-old should weigh about 40 pounds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The boy was in stable condition Friday at University Hospital in Syracuse.
Police said an 11-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy in the home also suffered from malnourishment and neglect. Nichols said Child Protective Services placed both in foster care.
Nichols did not say whether Child Protective Services had been called in the past about the family. He referred questions to that office.
Gratton and her boyfriend, Joseph Kahn, also face charges of fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana, second-degree criminal use of drug paraphernalia, endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
At least one neighbor said she had called Child Protective Services more than once last year about the family.
"What I noticed, from day one, was after I became friends with Judy, she drank all day, the baby was on the floor," Christina Stevens said. "There was no interaction. The baby never had any solid food. She never changed him."
Next-door neighbor Kia Matthews said the 11-year-old girl and her 12-year-old brother often came over for food.
Matthews said she saw the 5-year-old when an ambulance took him away after Tuesday's raid. "He looked like he had chicken legs," Matthews said. "It was a disgrace."
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