A mother and father were arrested after their five children were found living in a filthy Miami Beach apartment that had no electricity, food or a working toilet and just one bed for them to share, police said.
Sanel Canovic, 40, and Azra Nikocevic, 33, were arrested Tuesday on five counts each of child neglect with no great bodily harm, Miami-Dade jail records showed.
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According to arrest reports, the discovery was made after one of their children, a 6-year-old, was seen crossing the street in the 700 block of 15th Street, unsupervised and in a high traffic area on Tuesday afternoon.
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A passerby who witnessed it called police, and officers arrived and saw the child leaving an apartment complex by himself.
The officers asked the boy where he lived and he led them to his apartment in the 700 block of 15th Street, which was answered by a 12-year-old, the couple's oldest child.
“He told me that he wasn’t lost, that he knew where he lived, and I asked him if I could walk with him to his house just to make sure that he was going to be OK," the witness, who didn't want to be identified, told NBC6.
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“The kid didn’t look very clean," the witness said. "I think he was still wearing school uniform even though school has been out for a couple of days, his clothes were oversized and his iPad was broken, I don’t know, there was something that told me he wasn’t being taken care of."
Officers found four other children in the apartment, which had no food, no electricity, no working toilet and no functioning stove, the reports said.
Police asked the kids if they were hungry and they all said yes, saying their last meal had been around 10 p.m. the night before.
Officers also found the toilet contained stagnant water and feces and there was no toilet paper in the home, and the children told them they take showers after going to the bathroom.
The children added that they'd been without electricity for around two months.
The kids said they had no way of contacting their mother but said she worked at a hotel in Miami, and said they didn't know where their father worked, the reports said.
Officers brought the children to the police station to be fed and cared for while officers tried to contact their parents, and investigators interviewed the 12-year-old.
She told them she was responsible for caring for her siblings while her parents were at work, and said all five children share a full-size bed, the reports said.
The daughter said the children ate breakfast and lunch at school and were told by their father "you eat at school, so you don't eat at home," police said.
She said the kids often went to bed hungry, especially during the holiday break because their meals depended on their parents bringing food home but said their mother would occasionally leave them $20 to buy food, and she would buy two bacon cheeseburgers and three McChicken sandwiches from McDonald's.
"The parents would frequently share a meal in the evening without providing food for the children," the reports said. "They would often leave the children at home while they went out to dinner."
The daughter said the apartment had been without toilet paper for about a week and they would use small rags or take a shower, and officers found several soiled rags on the bathroom floor, police said.
"All the children were wearing soiled clothing and had a strong odor of body odor and urine," the reports said. "She stated that it had been approximately two weeks since their parents last did laundry, resulting in them often wearing dirty clothing."
Officers contacted Nikocevic, who responded to the police station and told investigators their apartment had been without electricity for around six weeks since they were behind on the bill, the reports said.
She also admitted she left $20 for the kids to buy snacks but said she had no way of confirming that they'd eaten since she couldn't contact them while at work, the reports said.
Nikocevic said she's trying to get assistance with food stamps, but denied depriving the children of food, the reports said.
Canovic later arrived at the police station and asked to give a statement through a Croatian speaker, the reports said. An officer translated for the father, who invoked his right to an attorney.
"The defendant and co-defendant willfully failed to provide adequate care, supervision, and the basic necessities required to maintain the victims' physical and mental health," the report said.
Both parents were arrested and booked into jail. They later appeared in court where a judge set their bond at $2,500 each.
"This is a heartbreaking case," Miami Beach Police spokesman Christopher Bess said. "Our message to the community, especially in this case, is if you see something like this, if you see a child who is not with his or her parent or an adult, please do not hesitate to call the police. That witness was at the right place at the right time and thankfully we were able to give the kids some food."
