House declared unfit for human habitation for a third time

DECATUR, Ind. (WANE) Two Decatur adults are facing charges of child and animal neglect after their residence was declared unfit for human habitation for a third time.

An arrest warrant was issued in September for Jason and Sondra Haushauer following an August incident in which police and child services followed an anonymous tip into a home with terrible conditions.

According to the Probable Cause from September, the officer that responded to the home in the 100 block of 11th Street in Decatur was familiar with the Haushauers from prior incidents in 2008 and 2010 in which their residence was declared unfit for human habitation.

The two children, a five and an eleven-year old, answered the door and woke up their mother. The officer describes the state of the house in the probable cause:

Once I entered my breath was taken away from the stench in the air of ammonia odor. There was an unbelievable amount of flies resting, and feeding on ground in food that was on the floor, and laying around the entry way, also buzzing around my head, and landing on my face, and body.

... The entire area was in a state of disaray. Dirty clothing, blankets, spoiled food, drinking containers with mold in them and filth laying and thrown everywhere.

... [The CPS Representative] stepped on something under a blanket on the floor in front of the parents door.

The officer moved the blanket, and observed a dead dog that was covered with flies, fleas and at the start of decomposing, as there was the beginning stages of maggots...

The childrens bedroom also contained several flies, and piles of animal feces laying around the bed, and entire area. Some of the feces were smashed into the carpeting and had dried, and crusted to the point you could see the dried shoe prints of someones shoes that had walked through it.

The house was declared unfit for human habitation and condemned when the police officer called the County Health Department Director to the scene. All the animals, eight cats, five kittens, and two live dogs were removed and taken to an animal hospital for treatment.

The children were taken into custody by CPS.

A day after the August response, Adams County Health Department Sanitarian Terry Smith told WANE "[the kids] will be monitored. They were taken to another family members home in town in Decatur. They will be monitored by the Child Protective Services agency."