Florida Mom Left Teen in ‘Deplorable’ Home to Party in Vegas: Cops

A disturbing case out of Florida is. making headlines as a mother faces. serious charges. Authorities allege she. left her minor child home alone with. seven starving dogs while she took off. on a two-week trip to Las Vegas. What. deputies found when they checked on the. home was nothing short of horrifying. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Let's go to Putnham County, Florida. It. is there that a mother, 37-year-old.

Jessica Copelan, is facing child neglect. and animal cruelty charges. You see, authorities alleged that she left her. child home with seven dogs while she was. out in Vegas for 2 weeks. Those are the. allegations. Now, yes, they're. allegations. She's innocent until proven. guilty. But my gosh, according to. reporting, thank goodness for family. Apparently, a family member called in a. welfare check at the house to see what. was going on. Oh, and by the way, this. gets weird, too, because Putnham County.

officials told News4 Jax that they. encountered an adult at the home who. allegedly said, quote, "Oh, yeah. I'm. cleaning up. I can grab the teenager so. you can see he's being taken care of.". The child came outside, talked to. deputies, told them everything was fine. There were no issues. By the way, don't. know a lot more information about this. child, including the age. All we know. really is that this is a boy who is a. minor, a teenager. That information, the. other information has been redacted as. of now. But then, according to People, a.

different family member reportedly. called police to give them some sort of. video proof of emaciated dogs being. abused inside that home. So, police, they come back. They apparently speak to. the boy referred to as AR, who they say. was quote in control of the residence. Here's what a Putham County Sheriff's. deputy wrote in a report. I requested to. see the conditions of the animals and. their living conditions. AR stated the. house was in poor condition and there. was poop everywhere. Entering the front. door of the residence, I was met by.

multiple dogs in various poor conditions. as well as the smell of feces and urine. In the living room, I observed all. walking areas to the other bedroom. encased in a thick layer of brown white. matter identified as animal feces. on. the floor. I observed multiple crock-pot. bowls filled with water with unknown. insects floating and flying around the. surface. I asked AR, "How long has the. house been in this condition?" And he. stated, "It's been that way for years.".

AR stated, "This is the way Jessica. keeps the house and refuses to clean.". Now, according to the police report, at. least two dogs named Onyx and Chase were. locked in a bedroom with no food or. water, and the floor was filled with. feces approximately 4 in deep. It's. disgusting. A pitbull mix named Hera was. discovered in a cage behind the couch, which was covered with a blanket. Also. had no access to food or water. And four. other dogs, Big Boy, Fay, Bella, Kitty, appear to have stayed in the living room.

of the home. So, the Putham County. Sheriff's Office, they released a short. clip of body cam footage that actually. shows Jessica Copelan returning from her. trip, finding deputies on her property. >> Hey, are you Jesse? >> Yes, I am. >> Hey, Jesse. How are you doing? >> Good. How are you? >> I'm all right. Um, probably uh just be 100% honest with you. right off the bat. Okay. The house is. deplorable. Living conditions. >> Just got home from vacation. >> I understand. But it's this isn't just. from 2 weeks worth of vacation. Okay,

>> the dogs are completely emaciated and um. and at the point that they're being. starved to death. So, uh if you do me a. favor and just turn around and put your. hands behind your back. >> Put your hands together like. >> your hands. Put your hands together like. right now, ma'am, you're being placed. under arrest for um animal cruelty as. well as child neglect. >> Oh, and Action News, Jack's reporting. this was all on her birthday. Yeah. So,

according to the sheriff's office, she. is now facing felony child neglect and. both felony and misdemeanor animal. cruelty charges. And at last check, she's locked up on a $36,000 bond at the. Putnham County Jail. If the allegations. are true, I guess she just what? Didn't. hit it big in Vegas to make bail right. now. Reportedly, the child is doing. okay. Is now with family members. These. malnourished dogs were taken to animal. control. But again, my gosh, if these. allegations are true, what are we. talking about here? How could someone do.

this? Now, I will say this. If anybody. out there is interested in adopting. these dogs, giving them a new life, uh, you're asked to contact Julianne Young. at julian.you youngputnham-fl.gov. Sheriff HD Gator Delo said in a. statement, "The depravity of this. situation is both heartbreaking and. infuriating. A mother made the conscious. choice to abandon her own child in a. filthridden home surrounded by the. stench of animal feces and suffering of.

neglected animals while she indulged on. a two-week birthday trip to Las Vegas. This wasn't neglect. This was deliberate. cruelty both to her child and to the. animal she left behind. Let me be clear, our community will not tolerate this. level of selfish disregard for human and. animal life. She now has time for. reflection. Well, this is just a. horrible, horrible story to say the. least. Unfortunately, we have seen. alleged abuse cases like this before and.

we want to bring them to you. We want to. shed a light on what is going on or. allegedly going on. And one of the. reasons that we can do that is because. we get incredible support from our. sponsors like Upside. And if you don't. know what it is, Upside is great. It is. a free app that gets you cash back when. you buy daily essentials. So, I pump my. gas, I can use Upside. I go out to. lunch, I can use Upside. I go to a. convenience store, I can use Upside. And. why not get cash back when I do all. these things, right? This is actual real. cash back. It's money that appears in. your Upside app that you transfer right. into your bank account. So once you have. the free upside app, you claim an offer. for whatever you're buying on Upside.

You pay as usual using a debit or credit. card and follow the steps on the app. You get paid. So to find out how much. you could earn, click the link in the. description to download Upside or scan. the QR code on screen, but make sure to. use our promo code Sidebar because. you'll get an extra 25 cents back on. every gallon on your first tank of gas. I want to bring in Sher Botwin, licensed. clinical social worker and trauma expert. to help uh try to break down and. understand what this is because I can't. think of somebody who might be better to. understand what's happening here. Um. this is pretty disgusting and horrific. Have you ever seen anything like this.

before? >> Unfortunately, I have. I have worked with clients who. are adults now who in their 20s, 30s, 40s, and 50s are still struggling with. the fallout and impact of coming from a. home like this. >> How does it slip through the cracks? How. do if this is true? This this house was. kept in this condition for such a long. period of time. Why are we only. discovering this now? >> I mean, I'm thinking about the teenager. that was left in the home. I I don't.

know anything about him, but I can sense. that while he may feel abandoned and. neglected, he's probably also very. protective of his mom. And you know, it's that saying, what happens behind. closed doors, people don't necessarily. have access to finding out what's going. on behind the closed doors. And it. sounds like from what I'm reading, this. this young boy was he was used to living. in these conditions. So for him to go. and tell somebody and then there's other.

adults it sounds like who have come in. the home but like the one woman is. saying we we're cleaning up the house. There's nothing to worry about. People. who are in relationships with the person. who's allegedly the abuser or the. neglectful parent, they tend to want to. protect them even in the worst case. situations. >> What about CPS? What about child. protective services? Is it a. misunderstanding of what their oversight. role is, when they're called out, what. their job is supposed to be?

>> The the problem is is have they been. called out in this case? Did anybody. ever call them and say, "You need to go. to this home because there's a big. problem." that piece of the story I. don't know about. But I I know that. there are times even in these agencies. that things get missed and sometimes the. secrets and the way that families and. children and families can tend to hide. and cover up such atrocities.

I hate to say it, but this is something. that happens all the time. >> Again, assuming these allegations are. true and you know, she's innocent until. proven guilty. she'll have an. opportunity to fight them. What What. What are the defenses to this? You know, if you take it as true, she goes to. Vegas. She seemingly admitted that she. went to Vegas, left her son, these dogs. in this state. Now, they made it clear. that this wasn't just a these dogs. weren't just left in this condition for. two weeks, you know, that they were. healthy dogs and then deteriorated. That.

this was happening for a while. But what. defenses do you see from parents or. guardians? Maybe I don't even know if. it's a legal defense or a moral defense. why they would think something like this. >> is okay or maybe they don't care or. maybe there's another reason. Again, let. me emphasize this one more time. She's. innocent until proven guilty. But I'm. trying to understand what is a. justification you have seen from parents. or guardians who do similar conduct.

The thing is you're trying to come up. with a defense, a justification. And. what is such a head spinner and. something that I still don't understand. even after doing this work for so long. is there are parents out here in the. world that will justify actions and. behaviors that most of us would say, "What in the world were you thinking? How could you possibly do that?" And the. thing that we have to remember is when. somebody comes becomes a parent, they're.

not given a license. They're not. certified. Anybody can become a parent. And sadly, there are people in this. world who become parents and then they. don't want to parent. So, I'm imagining. for someone like this woman, if this if. these allegations are true, I'm thinking. she might have said something like, "Well, he was a teenager. he could stay. home alone and he said he was going to. take care of the dogs. Like parents will. come up with all kinds of ideas and. reasons why what they have done somehow.

is okay even when it's so not okay. It's. like um you know you see this the. selfish aspect of it right I mean going. to Vegas that level of escape going to. party uh there's other parents who have. romantically gone on dates or they do. whatever they want to do to you know. benefit themselves at the expense of the. children there is an aspect to that. right it's like an escape from their. dayto-day it's an escape from their.

responsibilities I'm not justifying it. but I'm trying to understand what what. the rationale could be here and I I. don't I'm struggling to find it because. if you have love for your child and for. your animals, how how can you go out to. again assuming these allegations are. true, how can you go out to Vegas and. seemingly party for your birthday while. you know what's at home? >> Here's the thing. What you're describing. it it's so much more than being selfish. It's the pathology of the parent in that. situation. And you know, again, we.

assume that when someone becomes a. parent, they love their child. I know. I've worked with clients who've come. from families where they genuinely were. not loved by their own parents. There. are people in this world who they're not. just selfish. They just don't they don't. have the ability to actually love and. protect a child even when it's their. own. And that could be because of things. that happened in their past. She could. have mental health issues. There's so.

many things that we don't know about the. mom. But the thing that we have to. understand in in the world that we live. in is there are children living in. families right now where their parents. are literally incapable or too unwell. And I don't just mean they have. depression or they're selfish or they're. struggling with mental health issues. There are people in this world who are. very narcissistic. And when you're. talking about that type of pathology, a.

narcissist only cares about himself or. herself. They don't have the ability to. think, "What in the world am I doing by. leaving my child?" They don't have the. ability to actually love and protect a. child the way a child needs to be. protected and loved. >> Yeah. A and you know in terms of some. sort of defense like even a mental. health defense I I think would be. limited considering there seems to be a. level of consciousness for what she did. here. So I think that's going to be. limited in terms of if you had the.

opportunity to speak to this child. What. are the questions that you'd want to. ask? Because you think about what does. this do to a child uh for the remainder. of their life? Um assuming these. allegations are true. I think the first. question I would ask him is what does it. feel like to be left alone in this type. of environment? What does that make you. think about yourself and the people. around you? I would want to know things. like so when your mom left, did you feel.

like it was your responsibility then to. become sort of like the parent? You're. now in charge of these dogs. I would. want to know, did your mom leave you any. instructions or tell you how to contact. her? I think that the the question that. keeps coming in my mind when I think. about this case, if I were sitting down. with him, is I'd want to ask him, "What's it like to have a mom who leaves. you for two weeks in such deplorable. conditions?

How does that leave you feeling?" Uh, you know what I'm imagining, Jesse, is. that this is a kid who's feeling like. it's his responsibility to take over. when his mom leaves. And I'm sure. there's a part of him that thinks, well, I have a mom, but does she actually. really love me? And I don't think he. would ever say that to anybody else. because at the end of the day, he's. gonna want to do what he can to protect. her because he doesn't want to get her. in trouble. Um now to be clear I know you haven't.

had you know an opportunity to to meet. this person to interview this person but. the the journey that a child goes on. after being in these kinds of conditions. what can that manifest to into later on. in life I mean these are really really. disgusting conditions we don't know the. full context of the relationship or the. life that he was uh living with her or. leading with her but what is this we. talk about trauma that environment. What.

does that do to somebody? >> It's a head spinner. I mean, one of the. things I think about is it's not any. different than the people that I work. with who've been physically abused, sexually abused by parents. It leaves. people feeling so insecure and so. uncared about and how am I going to ever. be able to trust others and how can I. trust myself and how do I feel some. sense of control after living in an. environment at a at ages when I needed. somebody to protect and care about me.

I'm working with somebody now in her 40s. who grew up in a very similar home and. she still struggles with feeling secure. with trusting herself, trusting her. partner. She's so insecure about, of. course, her home environment and what it. looks like. It's it's one of those. things where I think this this young. boy, he's probably going to be in. therapy in some capacity. I don't want. to say for the rest of his life, but. he's going to need a lot of help. And. it's probably going to need to happen.

for over the course of 10 to 20 years. >> By the way, family members here, so. thank goodness for them for calling. But. you also wonder if the reporting is true. about this adult who was there and, you. know, didn't raise the red flags for law. enforcement about what was going on. What do you see as the role of of people. who because it's it's a difficult. journey, right? It's a difficult kind of. balancing test. How much do you get. involved in others parenting, others.

people's lives? But I mean, thank. goodness for them cuz it seems like he. needed the help of others to actually. bring supplies and food over. It's such. a weird kind of case. What is the role. of family in these kinds of cases? >> The word I think of is enabler. It's. very sad, but if you're a family member. and you're bringing food to a young boy. who's home with all those dogs, instead. of say instead of saying to the mom, uh, what are you doing? Maybe, you know,

like making sure that the kid can have. arrangements to be living somewhere else. for those two weeks. >> And to be clear, by the way, I don't. know if they tried to contact the mother. or all or anything like that, but Yeah. >> Yeah. But what I see in a lot of these. cases, whether they tried to contact the. mom or they didn't say anything or they. did say something, family members feel. an allegiance to family. And even when. they see that someone in their family. may be making very poor choices, a lot of times what happens is they.

would rather. kind of do what they can to fix the. situation or keep it under wraps than to. actually call for help. because calling. for help in a situation like this could. mean again that the mom if these. allegations are true, she could get in a. lot of trouble. So when I heard that the. there were family members going in and I. heard about the one adult who was there. saying she was it's fine, we're cleaning. up the mess, the first thing I thought. of was I think that this person may be.

enabling. M. >> it just perpetuates it to continue and. it never it's a cycle that can go on for. a very long time. >> No, it's a good point. It's a good. point. And if you had the opportunity to. interview Miss Copeland, okay, assuming. these allegations are true, what would. you want to find out from her? And by. the way, however this moves forward. through the legal process, whether you. know it goes to trial, whether the. charges stick, whether she's convicted, whether she pleads guilty, not guilty, not really sure where the charges are.

going to end up or stick, but is what. would you want to know from what would. you want to ask about her or what would. you want to ask her? And could you see. someone being re rehabilitated and. saying, you know what, I realized this. was terrible what I did. um but I can. move on, be a a safe and productive. member of society. So I guess again the. question is what would you want to ask. her? What would you want to know? And do. you think even somebody who is accused. of really really um disturbing crimes?

Is there a chance in the future that she. could take care of her child again and. she could be a productive member of. society? That's a that's a question I feel like. could take an hour to answer. I think. that the first thing I would want to. find out is what what's what's your. backstory? What kind of home did you. grow up grow up in? What were your. parents like? I would want to ask her, what were you thinking when you left to. go celebrate your birthday? What were.

you thinking? Did you forget that you. have this child and all these dogs that. you need to take care of? Were you. looking for an escape? Were you that. unhappy and overwhelmed in your life. that you felt like the only option was. to remove yourself and leave for those. two weeks? There's so many questions. that I have. And in terms of the the. idea of rehabilitation, I'm a true believer that people can. change who they are, people can.

be better. But is that something that. happens overnight? It can take decades. And the thing in this story is we're. talking about a a teenager. So even if. she were able to find a sort of like a. reason or explanation for her choices, the the destruction between the. relationship between her and her son, the mis the the distrust that would take.

that in and of itself would require I. would think a lot of therapy, a lot of. conversations in a safe contained. environment where the child and the mom. can sit down and really explore what. happened and the fallout and how to how. do you pick up the pieces after that? How do you then say, "Well, I think that. I'm doing better now and I think now I. can take care of my son." This is such a. sensitive, fragile type of situation. that by the time that were to happen, if.

that happened in this case, the child. would probably already be well past past. 18 years old. >> because that's how long it can take to. repair these types of situations. This. is an act of abuse and neglect. Children. need to know that they're loved and they. need to feel protected. And when parents. don't meet their basic needs and they up. and leave, the emotional impact and the. fallout from that, it's so many layers.

Literally, I could sit here for an hour. and talk to you just about that one. question. >> Sherry Botwin, these are not easy. questions. They are probably not easy uh. answers to hear. Um, but we'll keep. we'll keep a careful eye on this cuz it. is shocking. Um, and we're hoping that. this child is going to be okay, that the. dogs will be okay. We mentioned before. how if anybody's interested, they can. adopt them, where to go. Uh, but Cherry. Botwin, thank you so much for taking the. time. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so.

much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to. you next time. [Music]. [Music].