Portsmouth, Va. - Arielle Money faces child abuse and neglect charges. Portsmouth police say they found her 1-year-old daughter malnourished inside their home on Chestnut Street.
Police came to the home at four Tuesday morning, to investigate a burglary.
Inside, they found what police are calling deplorable conditions.
"In terms of what you saw, from the door, did it look bad?" a neighbor was asked. "Yes, it did." Cathleen Cutler said. "Nothing but a bunch of trash and counters messed up and food and stuff."
Cutler sat on her porch and watched authorities bring the child out early Tuesday morning.
"The baby didn't look sick. Fat, and healthy looking," Cutler said.
"She always had the baby with her, she took care of the baby," neighbor David Fernandez said.
Fernandez says Money is in the Navy. She posed for her mug shot wearing a U.S Navy sweatshirt and her daughter was taken to Portsmouth Naval Hospital, where she remained Tuesday night.
Animal control also took in Money's large dog. "They had the dog, they had the dog, he ran wild you can look at the windows and see the dog," Fernandez said. "Look like he had his own room there."
Money's back deck is filled with a dozen trash bags. The house has been condemned.
Despite the charges against the 22-year-old mother, neighbors aren't so quick to pass judgment.
"They were very respectable people in the neighborhood," said neighbor David Liggins.
