ABOVE: Heavy equipment waits to raze a Homosassa home. MIDDLE, LEFT: A septic tank truck empties a septic tank at the back of the home. The tank was little more than a hole in the ground, covered with mattress springs. BOTTOM, LEFT: Some of the discarded items surrounding the home lie piled up like a mini-landfill. BOTTOM, RIGHT: A last view of the inside of the home. County officials said it was dangerous for anyone to go past the entryway to the home. (Citrus Daily photos by Robby Douglas)
A septic hole in the ground covered with bed springs, holes in the floor, discarded children's toys, worn-out sofas, an old cell phone, a dysfunctional computer monitor, a boat - and more - served as stark testimony to the living conditions in one Homosassa home.
And an old meth lab once operated out of there, too.
Not only that, but three children and three adults once called it home. That is, of course, until the adults were arrested last week, the children placed in a foster home and the county declared the home a threat to public health.
Now, all that is left is an empty lot - the double-wide mobile home at 8538 W. Kimberly Court is now gone, with its disparate parts now resting in the Citrus County landfill. Neighbors this morning were witnesses to the taking down of the home. "It was hard looking out of the window every day and seeing that," one woman said. "In one way, it was sad to see the children living in those conditions. In another way, it is good that they are now being taken care of," she said.
The three children were all under the age of 10. The warrant was served by the Drug Enforcement Agency and officers of the Citrus County Sheriff's Office at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The living conditions at the home were described by CCSO officials as "deplorable." Besides the dangers associated with meth labs and their ingredients, trenches of human feces were discovered inside and out of the home, along with holes in the flooring, exposed wiring, broken glass and an open septic well.
Three people were arrested on Friday. Arrested were James Bole, 30, Jeffrey Carpenter, 32, and 25-year-old Crystal Dennis, all of Homosassa. Bole and Dennis were arrested earlier on Friday, and Carpenter was found later that night hiding in a closet in another Homosassa home at the time of his arrest.
The case will be tried in Tampa federal court.
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