Hoarder House In Joliet's Crystal Lawns Leads To 5 Child Neglect Charges For Couple: Sheriff's Office

JOLIET, IL — A 39-year-old Joliet man and a 36-year-old woman are facing five counts of endangering the life or health of a child in connection after living in filth and deplorable conditions in their Crystal Lawns subdivision along Golfview Drive, right along Caton Farm Road near Essington.

"Once inside, deputies observed no working utilities and a hoarding situation, with garbage bags littering the front room and rotting food, and pots and pans with moldy food in the kitchen," Will County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Elizabeth Matthews told Joliet Patch's editor on Monday.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the Will County Sheriff's Office, co-defendants Danielle Holmes and Nicholas Brancecum knowingly permitted a child to be placed in circumstances that endangered the life or health of a child. The defendants permitted the children to reside in a home without heat or electricity and in unsanitary conditions, the court files show.

According to the sheriff's office spokeswoman, the recent filing of charges stems back to late November.

Matthews said that back on Nov. 25, around 10:40 a.m., sheriff's deputies performed a welfare check on the home in the 2500 block of Golfview Drive for possibly not having power, heat and water utilities, with children also living there.

Upon deputies' arrival, Matthews said they learned Brancecum and Holmes lived there with five children, all under the age of 18. Brancecum allowed deputies inside so they could confirm if the home had proper working utilities.

She said the sheriff's deputies found there were animal cages in a hallway with five hens, a rooster and three rabbits, and there was animal feces on the floor near some of the children's bedrooms. Deputies also reported a strong odor of decaying food and animal feces throughout the home, and several cats and a dog upstairs. Deputies did not find a working bathroom; instead, they discovered a toilet, tub and floor with human feces, Matthews said.

Due to the conditions inside, the residence was deemed unfit for occupancy and Brancecum and Holmes were told they could not live there. The children went to a relative's home, and DCFS is also now investigating, Matthews noted.

There are no mugshots available for Holmes and Brancecum. Both of them were issued a summons from Will County Judge Tom Slazyk notifying them to appear at the Will County Courthouse in Courtroom 303 on Friday, April 24.

Joliet Patch visited the house on Monday, where there are red stickers posted on multiple doors declaring that 2561 Golfview Drive is no longer fit for human occupancy.