WESTFIELD — A city woman was formally charged last week with two counts of reckless endangerment of a child and eight counts of animal cruelty after officers investigating a noise complaint entered her apartment and discovered two children and a numerous pets living in “terrible conditions,” according to a police report.
On May 3, officers were called to an apartment at 81 S. Maple St., Westfield, when a neighbor called police to report loud banging coming from inside the apartment, according to police logs.
When officers arrived at 3:38 p.m., they knocked at the apartment’s door, but no one answered, according to police logs.
Police say they then called the apartment’s tenant, who was ultimately charged with the eight felonies, Tammie Meier, 35. Meier reportedly told a dispatcher she had her children with her and there was no one in the apartment except a pet cat.
A police dispatcher then called the apartment manager asking for a key to open the apartment, according to the log. The log goes on to report that once officers entered the apartment, one immediately called the Health Department and the city’s animal control officer.
Inside the apartment, officers found “piles of trash everywhere and [it] appeared uninhabitable with dried feces and urine littering the floor all across the apartment,” according to the statement of facts filed by the investigating officer.
Minutes later, while searching the apartment, officers found two children, ages 11 and 15, hiding on the second floor of the apartment, according to the log.
The children’s room was also “littered with trash and filth,” according to the statement of facts.
The children were taken by police to a local hospital and mental health counselors were contacted, according to the log.
As the officers continued searching the apartment, they found a “swarm of bugs gathered at the entrance of the basement, which had an overflowing litterbox,” according to the statement of facts.
Officers also found two box turtles, two guinea pigs, a dog, a cat, and the dried-out body of a ball python that appeared have been dead for a long time, according to the statement of facts.
The animal control officer on scene said the turtles didn’t have food, water or a heating lamp and appeared “close to death,” according to the statement of facts.
The guinea pigs also didn’t have food or water and their cage was full of feces, according to the statement of facts.
“The surviving animal were living in terrible conditions,” according to the statement of facts.
The turtles and guinea pigs were taken to Tufts Animal Hospital in Grafton for treatment, according to the log.
Meier was charged on March 9 with the felony charges, according to the statement of facts. She was arraigned last week in district court and released on personal recognizance with conditions, according to court documents.
Meier is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 6 for a pretrial hearing, according to court documents.