Police remove children from unsafe home

The past-due electric bill is $1,200.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Five children were removed from a cockroach-infested East Florida Avenue house where they lived without electricity and stayed warm with heat from a gas fireplace and stove, police said.
City police were sent to 73 E. Florida on Monday evening to check out a report of a fight between a mother and daughter. Officers found the house dark and noticed a strong odor of gas when they walked inside. It appeared the chimney flue was closed, police said.
The officers asked the 31-year-old resident to turn on the lights. She said the electricity is off because of a $1,200 past-due bill.
The woman went on to explain that she heats the house using the gas fireplace and kitchen stove and said everyone sleeps on the first floor to be near the heat.
What police saw
As police walked through the house, they noticed cockroaches running all over the walls, floors and counters. They said the refrigerator contained rotten food and more cockroaches.
All four burners on the stove were lighted, and the oven door was wide open to provide heat, reports show. The stove top was covered with black grease, and a cardboard box was in the middle.
Upstairs, police found open tin cans, plastic forks and a plastic container with dead cockroaches inside. The bathroom tub was half-filled with dirty water and dead cockroaches.
Staying with relative
The resident was told that the house is unsafe and no one will be allowed to stay in it. She went to stay with a relative.
Patrolman Brad Ditullio spoke with the Mahoning County Children Services Board and explained the situation.
A CSB caseworker approved of the children's going to stay with a relative, and police released them temporarily to an aunt who lives on East Lucius Avenue.
The officers obtained the names of the five children and all but one birth date. The remaining four, including twins, range from 14 to 16. The 16-year-old twins' birthday is Friday.
Aside from CSB, the officers' report was turned over to the police department's juvenile division and the city's housing and development department.
County records show the 80-year-old two-story house is owned by a Struthers man.