Nicholas Carter, Child Neglect, Florida Crime.

October 2, 2024

FLORIDA: A disturbing scene unfolded in Palm Coast, Florida, when Flagler County deputies responded to a call about a toddler wandering alone and discovered a home littered with feces, urine, and rotting food, leading to the arrest of 39-year-old Nicholas Carter.

On Friday evening, a woman delivering groceries on Barley Lane noticed a 2-year-old boy entering her car. She immediately contacted the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, prompting deputies to visit the boy's home. Nicholas Carter answered the door, downplaying the home's condition as "a little dirty."

However, deputies saw trash and discarded food through the window and requested to look around. Carter obliged, revealing a shocking state of neglect. The kitchen was in complete disarray with dirty dishes, roaches, flies, and discarded food. The laundry room contained several clumps of fuzzy fecal matter, indicating it was several days old.

Dirty clothes, garbage, and urine filled the master bedroom where younger children slept, alongside two beds and blankets on the dirty floor. Fecal matter covered the closet floor, surrounded by flies. Deputies also found power tools, a BB gun, and a marijuana pipe within reach of the children in the garage.

The roommate, who lived in the home for two years, acknowledged the conditions were "frowned upon." Deputies arrested Carter for child neglect without great bodily harm and resisting arrest. He has since posted bond.

This was not the first time deputies responded to the home, with 16 previous visits since January 2023, including a child wandering alone and a child having a seizure after eating marijuana.

Sheriff Rick Staly expressed outrage, stating, "Five children, three under 10, living in deplorable conditions with an adult who obviously doesn't care... Hopefully, this time DCF will take serious action."

The Florida Department of Children and Families has been notified, and officials will likely investigate the family's situation.