15 Children Found in 2-Bedroom Georgia Apartment, 3 Parents Faced with 94 Charges
Fifteen children walked out of a two-bedroom Georgia apartment while police were preparing to seek a search warrant, turning a welfare check involving two children into a case that ultimately produced 94 criminal charges against three adults.
The children ranged from 1 to 17 years old. Marietta Police Department spokesman Chuck McPhilamy described their emergence from the apartment as the first of several surprises officers encountered during the response.
Inside, arrest warrants later described inadequate food, nine beds for 18 residents and no apparent supply of toilet paper. Police also accused the adults of leaving marijuana where the children could access it.
The three adults — Ashley Jackson, 40, Derrick Jackson, 41, and Briana Reynolds, 36 — identified themselves as the children’s biological parents after arriving at the apartment several hours into the investigation.
Fifteen Walk Out
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The case began when Georgia Division of Family and Children Services staff requested help from Marietta police with a welfare check involving two children at an apartment complex at 1955 Bells Ferry Road, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
Officers were unable to make contact with an adult inside, and detectives began working to obtain a search warrant.
Before that warrant was secured, the apartment door opened.
“The door opens and 15 different children come walking outside from the age of one, all the way up to 17,” McPhilamy said in the station’s video report.
DFCS staff took custody of the children and moved them into approved housing. Police later said some required medical care, although officials have not publicly detailed their conditions or treatment.
Roughly three hours after officers arrived, Ashley Jackson, Derrick Jackson and Reynolds came to the property. Police took the three adults to department headquarters for interviews.
Inside The Apartment
The search that followed established that all 18 people had been living in the two-bedroom unit.
Arrest warrants described only nine beds in the apartment and an insufficient amount of food for the 15 children. The food officers found included a jar of peanut butter and a box of uncooked pasta, according to the court-document details reported by FOX 5.
The warrants also said officers found no toilet paper and no evidence suggesting there had recently been any in the residence. A blanket hanging in one bedroom had mold growing on it.
Separate reporting on the warrants said marijuana was left in a bedroom where it was accessible to the children and accused the adults of leaving the minors without supervision for more than three hours.
Police have not established publicly how long all 18 people had been living in the apartment.
Ninety-Four Charges
Each adult faces 15 counts of first-degree cruelty to children and 15 counts of second-degree cruelty to children — one of each charge for every child.
Those 90 child-cruelty counts are felonies under Georgia law.
Ashley Jackson and Reynolds each also face a misdemeanor marijuana-possession charge. Derrick Jackson faces the same marijuana charge plus an additional felony count of crossing the guard line.
Police accuse Derrick Jackson of concealing marijuana in his rectum while entering the Cobb County correctional facility during booking.
That brings the case to 94 charges altogether: 91 felony counts and three misdemeanor marijuana counts.
The three adults were booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center. Recent jail-record reporting listed all three as being held without bond while the cases proceed.
All 15 children remained in DFCS-approved placements following their removal from the apartment.
