3 charged with letting children live in unsafe Bloomfield home

BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- Three people were arrested last week following an investigation into children living in an unsafe home.

Patricia Coffee, of Bloomfield, and Michael Coffee, with a Clarkton, Mo., address on his arrest warrant, were arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree child endangerment. Sylvia Yount of Bloomfield was arrested and faces one count of first-degree child endangerment. All three are in the Stoddard County Jail on $20,000 cash-only bonds.

According to the probable-cause affidavit, Stoddard County sheriff's deputy Travis Stafford responded Wednesday to a call to assist the Division of Family Services in an investigation of a home on County Road 420.

Stafford said he found the home to be to be "extremely unsanitary" due to old food and animal feces on the floors, counters and furniture.

The ceiling of the living room was allegedly made of plastic that was sagging because of the weight of leaves and water on top of it. The dining room light, he said, was hanging through the leaves and water.

"The floors were weak to walk on due to the amount of water coming through the plastic," Stafford said in his statement. "I also noticed there to be an extension cord lying on the floor where the children had been playing, and it was covered in water."

While in a room where the children were playing, the deputy saw a toddler trying to walk across the cords, and he moved her away because of a "good possibility of electrocution."

A child's room had a plywood ceiling with no roof above, and Stafford wrote he could reach his hand outside through the gaps in the walls.

A piece of plywood was found partly hanging down above a couch where one of the children slept. The board was propped up with a broken two-by-four sitting on top of a cooler.

At several places in the home, Stafford noted he had to hold onto the walls to avoid falling through the floor. Because it was raining at the time, water was running into the house during the visit.

Seven people are believed to have lived in the home. The Coffees have three children, and Yount, a relative, had one child.

Pertinent address:

Bloomfield, MO