Five children ages 2 – 10 slept at their grandmother’s house Tuesday night, and their future remains in jeopardy.
“It’s like a nightmare,” says Grandmother Tammy May.
May was recovering from surgery when she found out her 28-year-old son, Yance May, and his 22-year-old wife, Taylor Kleinpeter, had been arrested. To make matters worse her grandchildren, all five of them, had been removed from their home.
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office say Yance and his wife are facing a list of charges including five counts of child endangerment.
“You could see it visually with your eyes. Every room looked destroyed. There was food and pots and old food and broken furniture and clothes just all over the residence,” describes Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Dawn Panepinto.
Besides the mess inside the home the Sheriff’s Office says they found illegal drugs and used syringes; needles that they say the children could have reached.
“I’m upset about that because first of all when you use needles there’s chances of getting diseases, and if they were in that much of a reach of the children it’s very easy that the children can pick up a disease from those syringes and that worries me,” says Tammy May.
The home off Highway 1064 in Natalbany is littered with beat up toys, and dirty diapers.
Deputies initially arrived to serve an arrest warrant on Yance May for theft. His mother says his life took a turn after his first wife and mother to four of his five children died while giving birth to their twins. Now Tammy May prays he can find the help they need to keep the family together.
“I’ve had my bouts with different things and I’ve always bounced back, thanks to the good Lord, and I believe that as long as he stays on my shoulder I’m going to bounce back from this too,” says Tammy May.