Two trick-or-treat bags sit on the front step of the house along the 8000 block of Lennox Street where the discovery was made. The two boys who lived here until Wednesday, October 30, have been taken by Childrens Services. The women who were supposed to be taking care of them are under arrest.
A case worker had tried to check on 8-year-old Jameer Hardy and his 9-year-old cousin Jaleel Singleton at this Lennox Street home several times. The boys hadn't been in school for months.
Jaleel's mother said her mother wouldn't let her see him either.
The social worker got a court order. On Wednesday, police and firefighters forced their way inside. They found the boys sleeping in an upstairs bedroom with Jameer's mother, 30-year-old Tiffanie Hardy.
Hardy fought police and was arrested. Officers said the doors were barricaded with furniture and the windows were sealed. The home was declared unfit for human habitation.
The boys' grandmother, Cosette Carter-Hardy, was arrested Thursday, October 31. Both women now face charges of endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment and interfering with child custody.
Jaleel was returned to his mother, while Jameer is in the custody of Children and Youth Services.
There are only a few homes on this block and the neighbors that spoke with Action News didn't want to appear on camera. However, one said she didn't even know there were children in this house. The other neighbor said she'd seen one little boy a couple of years ago, but not since then.
