Venice, Florida -- A Sarasota County couple faces child cruelty charges after deputies found their family was living in a home filled with raw sewage.

Deputies went to the house on Tuesday to arrest Kristina Reilly, 26, on a petit theft warrant. Inside the home, deputies noticed a strong smell of human waste.

Reilly and her boyfriend, 29-year-old James McArdle, told deputies there was a septic tank back up from at least five days earlier, but McArdle hadn't gotten around to cleaning it up yet.

The result was about an inch of sewage in some rooms, and it saturating the carpeting in others.

Two young children were found in a room with a dirty mattress in the middle of the floor and the pillows covered in mildew. Deputies say they found a needle and spoon with drug residue in the master bedroom, as well as a bong in the living room.

Reilly's arrest report further described the squalid living conditions:

"In the kitchen there was sewage backed up and half of the sink was filled with liquid waste," reads the report. "There was an infestation of ants and cockroaches all over the counters. The one usable bathroom within the home was also filled with sewage. The toilet was overflowed with feces and the shower floor was covered in human waste."

According to the arrest report, McArdle said the family generally went to the bathroom in a bucket, which would then be dumped in a pool in the back yard.

In addition to Reilly's petit theft warrant, she and McArdle are both charged with one count each of child cruelty. McArdle also faces one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

The children were removed from the home and are in the custody of the Department of Children and Families.

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