7/16/09
An Española man living in a house that has had no water or sewer service for two years was charged with child abuse for subjecting his two daughters to extremely filthy conditions, according to court documents.
Española Police were dispatched July 8 to the Ash Loop residence where Gerad Olivas, 39, his two daughters ages 3 and 4, and his mother, Clarissa Olivas, live. Police had been tipped by an anonymous neighbor, who complained the children were being raised in unsafe living conditions with excessive garbage in the house and no running water.
Court documents provide the following account of officer Danny Pacheco’s visit to the home.
Pacheco noticed the property surrounding the Olivas home was strewn with trash. Clarissa Olivas told Pacheco the home had been without water or sewer service for the past two years because the city took her water meter and hadn’t replaced it.
Pacheco found garbage lying on the floor inside the house and “anywhere else imaginable.” There was rotting food throughout the kitchen and living room, feces in the toilet and old, inedible food in the fridge. As of Pacheco’s arrival around 12:45 p.m., the two children had not eaten anything that day, were wearing dirty clothes and hadn’t been bathed in several days.
“It should be noted the conditions the young girls were subjected to were very extreme and flies were everywhere,” Pacheco wrote in his report.
A state Children, Youth and Families Department agent came to inspect the house and took custody of the children. Pacheco went to Wal-Mart to find Gerad Olivas, who works in the tire department, and also discovered he had an outstanding warrant for failing to complete community service on an aggravated drunk driving conviction. Olivas was arrested on the warrant and also on a charge of child abuse, and released July 10.
Two of the Olivas’ neighbors wrote letters to Rio Arriba County Magistrate Judge Joseph Madrid claiming that the family was poor but not abusive toward the children.
Gerad Olivas could not be reached for comment.