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TACOMA – Three toddlers were locked in a bedroom and forced to go to the bathroom on the floor. That’s what police say a Tacoma mother did to her children.



Now, 26-year-old Tasha Herndon is facing serious charges.



Police may never have known what was going on if they weren’t tipped off. Court records allege that Herndon would feed her 2-, 3-, and 6-year-old sons through a hole in the bottom of their bedroom door.



Next-door neighbor Rita said she had no idea what was happening to the three little boys inside a Yakima Avenue apartment. But she said Herndon, would have visitors all hours of the day and night.



“Smoking, you can smell pot, you can suspect other things,” Rita said.



Court documents allege Herndon locked her kids in a bedroom, where the walls and floor were covered in feces and urine. Investigators say Herndon told the oldest boy to throw their bodily waste out of the window.







According to investigators, Herndon said she knew the kids were living in horrible conditions and that they were in a place they shouldn’t have been.



The only electrical power to the house came through an extension cord from a neighboring unit – used for a heater during cold weather.



Rita said she is happy the boys are no longer forced to live in squalid conditions.



“That is like something from a horror story that you’d read. It’s horrible,” Rita said. “I really hope they find them a good place to live.”



The children were taken to the hospital and they are now in protective custody.



Herndon pleaded not guilty to three counts of unlawful imprisonment and three counts of criminal mistreatment. She’s being held in jail in lieu of $300,000 bail.



