'They Just Left Us': Authorities Searching For Wanted Couple Find 3 Children In Deplorable Conditions
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GREENSBURG (KDKA) -- Authorities say when they went looking for a Greensburg couple wanted on drug charges, they found a teenager and two young children living in terrible conditions with next to no food.
Deputies went to a home on Cleveland Avenue in Greensburg in search of 39-year-old Ryan Jay Mason and 36-year-old Destany Stamps, who were wanted on felony warrants.
When they arrived at the home, a young woman answered the door and said she did not live there but was staying overnight.
According to a criminal complaint, the woman let the deputies inside. The deputies say the house was inundated with flying insects, and they were overwhelmed by the terrible smell. They also believed the heating system was damaged or the utilities were turned off.
"The conditions were disgusting, deplorable. The house smelled like garbage," Westmoreland County Sheriff Jonathan Held said.
When the deputies went upstairs, they found two 5-year-old children and a 16-year-old boy in an upstairs bedroom that was covered in rotting food, dirty laundry and garbage. Deputies also say there were two marijuana-smoking water bongs on the floor near the children.
The criminal complaint says the 16-year-old boy told the deputies he and the children had been in the bedroom for "about a week, maybe longer."
When asked who was watching the children, the 16-year-old allegedly said, "I have. I'm doing the best I can do. They just left us."
The boy told police the only thing they had been eating was peanut butter and said they hadn't bathed in about a week because they were afraid to leave the room and go downstairs.
Deputies say all three children were covered in filth, their hair was completely matted and the 16-year-old boy thought they all had lice.
The woman and man who were in the home told the deputies they weren't there to watch the children, but the woman believed Mason and Stamps were "on the run" and staying in a hotel "so the cops couldn't find them."
Deputies released the two individuals and contacted Westmoreland County Children Youth Services. Social workers arrived and took custody of all three children.
Mason and Stamps were found at a home on Spring Street in Latrobe and taken into custody.
Both are facing multiple charges, including endangering the welfare of children.
