The notice that hangs on the front of the Lake Grove house. Photo by Mona Rivera
Posted: Thursday, 17 July 2008 6:14PM
Cops: 4 Children Removed from Filthy Long Island Home
LAKE GROVE, N.Y. (AP/1010 WINS) -- A Long Island woman has been charged with endangering the welfare of her four children after a neighbor called 911 to report that the kids were allegedly living in filth.
Emie Turano of Lake Grove, the neighbor who called 911, said she felt something was wrong at the home of her daughter's friend so she convinced the 9-year-old to let her in the house.
Turano told 1010 WINS' reporter Mona Rivera that when she entered the home of Denise Schnell she almost passed out. "She (Schnell's 9-year-old daughter) opened the door and I almost died," Turano said. "I wanted to throw up. It was the most horrific scene I ever saw in my life. Horrific. There was garbage on the floor, dog feces, urine, rotted food, bugs, flies..."
Turano then called the police.
Suffolk County police say they arrived at the Lake Grove home Wednesday night and found that the home was infested with bugs and filled with garbage. The basement was flooded, the smell was revolting and the children had not been fed for a week, police said. The children are aged 2, 9, 12 and 15.
Police found Schnell, 38, at her workplace. Schnell pleaded not guilty during her arraignment Thursday and is being held on $10,000 bail.
The children are in the custody of Child Protective Services and the house has been condemned.
Inset photo of Schnell's home from Mona Rivera.
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