'Infested With Bugs': Parents Arrested, Accused Of Child Endangerment After Police Called To SW Oklahoma City

Concerned neighbors in southwest Oklahoma City called police to investigate children living in possible dangerous conditions. The parents now face five counts of child endangerment complaints.

Police were first called to the home to check on unsupervised children. Once inside the home, officers described the family’s living conditions as appalling.

Tips from the public led officers to a home near southwest 29th and Agnew Avenue earlier in the week. Witnesses reported five children were living in the home with parents Alberto Mora Vargas and Daniela Mora.

“These children were possibly being left for hours at a time,” said Sgt. Dillon Quirk, Oklahoma City Police Department.

Neighbors told officers the children would play in a pool in the front yard late at night unsupervised and would go to other homes to ask for food. Police said when they first arrived to investigate the mother yelled at them to leave their property.

“They did smell marijuana emitting from inside the home,” said Quirk.

According to the report, Mora eventually walked officers through the home. Police said the home was unlivable and infested with bed bugs, spiders, lice, and roaches all over the floor, walls, ceiling, refrigerator and on beds. Officers noted the house had piles of trash everywhere and dog feces on the floor. They also found a container with marijuana on the couch.

The Oklahoma Department of Human Services, animal welfare and the children's grandparents were called to the home. Police said this was the first time the grandparents had seen the family's living conditions in over a year. Police arrested the parents after seeing the home and listening to witnesses.

“The two adults inside were taken to the Oklahoma County Detention Center,” said Quirk.

Police said DHS was involved in the investigation and the children were placed with relatives. Their parents have not been formally charged by the Oklahoma County District Attorney.