Parents charged with abandoning 4 kids for hours in 'deplorable' Fort Pierce hotel

Mary Helen Moore | Treasure Coast Newspapers

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FORT PIERCE — Two parents were charged after police found four children between 1 and 11 years old unsupervised in a "filthy" hotel room, lying in bed in their own feces, arrest records show.

Fort Pierce police came across the children about 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Sunset Inn, 1802 U.S. 1.

They found two toddlers without diapers or clothes and a 7-year-old in the care of their 11-year-old sibling. There was nothing in the room for the children to eat or drink and officers described the conditions as "deplorable."

The children's father, Aremis Brown, 30, was located about 9 p.m. He said he left the hotel about 3 p.m. to take his girlfriend, Crystal Decker, 30, to work and "the time went by without him noticing," according to his arrest affidavit.

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Decker was located at her Indian River County workplace. She acknowledged her 11-year-old "was not fully capable of taking care of his younger siblings," her arrest affidavit said.

Brown and Decker were charged with child neglect. The Department of Children and Families took custody of the children.

Brown was being held Thursday in the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $7,500 bail. Decker remained Thursday in the Indian River County Jail, her bail set at $2,500.