YOUNGSTOWN House is found unfit to live in

A 7-month-old bulldog was rescued from the dark and feces-filled basement.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- "The smell will get you first," Patrolman Dan Mikus said today as he re-entered a house on the South Side contaminated with human and animal feces.
Brian Shina said he called police this morning after finding the door unlocked at 3916 Howard St. where his estranged wife reportedly lives. He had intended to drop off their children, a 21/2 -year-old boy and 4-year-old girl.
Mikus wasted no time in summoning housing inspectors, the Mahoning County Children Services Bureau and Dave Nelson, Animal Charity humane investigator. Two women from CSB told Shina to take the children home with him while they sort out what happened.
The 25-year-old Austintown man told The Vindicator he's hoping the condition of the house, located in a quiet, well-kept, older neighborhood, convinces others that he should have custody of the children.
Conditions
The house on Howard, just off Midlothian Boulevard, has no electricity and an inoperable toilet that overflowed on the bathroom floor. Unsealed plastic trash bags, their spilled contents adding to the rancid smell, are everywhere.
Mikus pointed to the living room rug, smeared with human and animal feces and covered with cat litter. He found a packet of blue Sudafed pills on the floor and noted how easily accessible they were to children.
He asked Nelson to take a goldfish that was swimming in a murky green aquarium.
The officer opened the refrigerator and found mold, but no food. In a bedroom, he found a urine-stained bed and a closet with children's shoes and clothes -- proof, he said, that the kids lived there.
Verification
CSB has to verify that the children have, in fact, been staying at the house.
"She's got to go to jail for this," Nelson said as he took custody of Rocco, a 7-month-old male bulldog. Once checked out by the vet at Animal Charity, Rocco would be turned over to Shina.
The dog, covered with fleas and dehydrated, had been in the dark basement that reeks of urine and feces. Footprints in excrement can be seen throughout the house as well as on the steps leading to the basement.
The basement floor looks like a fly-infested landfill.
Nelson said a cat, near starved and dehydrated, ran out when the back door opened. The back yard, like the house, is littered with assorted trash -- and toys.
He said he would consult with the city prosecutor today and file two counts of animal cruelty against the woman. He had no doubt about the woman living there, citing mail found in her name.
Shina said his wife would meet him on the porch when he would drop off the children, so today was his first glimpse inside.
Mikus said his report would reflect two counts of child endangering.
Shina said he had "no clue" where his wife could be, but possibly was with her boyfriend. He said she generally drops the children off at his North Roanoke Avenue home at night and he returns them in the morning.
Nelson said a neighbor saw the woman's car in the driveway over the weekend. He said police would check out a report that she was staying at a house in Liberty.
meade@vindy.com