A 51-year-old man in Pennsylvania is behind bars after cops allegedly found his unconscious mother “fused” to her bed filled with maggots.
The Upper Chichester Police Department said in a press release that a neighbor called cops Sunday afternoon after seeing several Amazon packages and white plastic bags of unopened food stacked up at the front door. Officers knocked and rang the doorbell several times but no one answered. They looked through a rear siding glass door and saw a large amount of trash on the floor. There were also flies on the windows.
Thinking the residents could be dead or in distress, cops forced their way into the home. When they got inside they were met by the suspect, Daniel Klein. Police saw so much trash and packages inside the front door that it was hard to get it open. They also could smell a foul odor. Police asked if they could see his mother, and he led them to her room where he said she was sleeping.
The mother was in the bed breathing, but unconscious under a soiled blanket, according to police. Cops called in paramedics to check on her and remove the blanket.
“Officers then observed her lower half to be covered in dried feces and maggots and her to have ram’s horn toenails,” police said.
She also was “fused” to the bed and sheets. Medics took her to the hospital for further evaluation.
Cops arrested Klein on charges of abuse of a dependent person and recklessly endangering another person.
“This is one of the worst cases I’ve seen in my four years as district attorney here,” Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer told Philadelphia ABC affiliate WPVI. “And for this person, the defendant Klein, to do this to his own mother, it’s just … I can’t even imagine.”
Neighbors of the 55-and-over community about 20 miles southwest of Philadelphia were shocked.
“In a community like this, especially, you’d like to think that people would be more aware of each other. I was unaware this was going on, and it’s a shame,” Sean Hebbel told WPVI.
Police took Klein to the George Hill Correctional Facility where bail was set at $50,000.
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