Deputies: Couple arrested after child found eating crayons, rubber bands

A couple was arrested after two young children were left alone at their home in Clover in disgusting conditions, according to York County deputies. 

The police report said a 9-month-old baby was found lying in the hallway with a full diaper eating crayons and rubber bands.

"I can't wrap my head around that," said a neighbor, who did not want Channel 9 to use her name.

She said she suspected some sort of neglect in the home on Beaver Springs.

She saw the couple leave without the children and return without them in the car. But she had no proof the kids were being left home alone until this week when the 4-year-old came outside.

"He said, 'No they're not home. They do this all the time.' And the little baby was crawling on the floor in the hallway. She's not even a year old," she said.

Another neighbor ran in and got the baby.

Sheriff's deputies were called and the deputy who searched the home found conditions including cleaning chemicals in a dirty kitchen and four empty pizza boxes stacked up on the baby's high chair, according to the police report.

The baby had been crawling around in an area where there was "an aluminum foil container with a sharp serrated edge," the report indicated.

"I didn't even know that was going on," said David Smith, a neighbor.

Neighbors were shocked at how bad the conditions were inside the home.

The parents, Rachael Allen and Christopher Beard, are out of jail but the kids are not with them. They've been placed with their grandparents.

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WSOC