A Carter County woman faces a criminal charge after police attempting to serve a warrant at her home reported finding a child living in unsanitary conditions.

Deputies of the Carter County Sheriff’s Office arrested Kaeti Lanzarotta, 40, of 110 John Crow Road, Elizabethton, on Monday on a charge of child neglect. Deputies also served her with an outstanding warrant charging her with failure to appear in court.

Around 9 p.m. on Monday, CCSO Deputy Jerad Cook, Deputy William Staschak, and Sgt. Myles Cook went to Lanzarotta’s home to attempt to arrest her on the outstanding warrant charging her with failure to appear. Deputy Jerad Cook said when officers knocked on the door and announced their presence no one responded.

Deputy Jerad Cook said he had attempted to serve the warrant on Lanzarotta on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18 and spoke to a 15-year-old male at the home on both occasions. According to the deputy, the child appeared dirty and was wearing the same dirty clothes on both dates he was there. While speaking with the 15-year-old, Deputy Jerad Cook said the child told him on both occasions that his mother, Lanzarotta, was not home and had gone to North Carolina with a friend.

According to court documents, earlier in the day on Monday Staschak had attempted to serve the warrant at the home and had also spoken to the 15-year-old, whom he described as wearing the same dirty clothing witnessed by Deputy Jerad Cook.

“Due to the conditions of the home from the outside, what could be seen from the inside, the odor of urine and feces, having counted over 20 dogs on the property, and (the 15-year-old) stating that his mother was gone and had been gone for days, I consulted with Sgt. (Myles) Cook and Lt. Derrick Hamm and came to the agreement to make entry into the home for a welfare check on the child,” Deputy Jerad Cook said. “Upon announcing and entering the residence, multiple large dogs met us at the door. While in the residence the house was filled with trash and debris covering most of the floors along with the constant trail of urine and feces.”

Deputy Jerad Cook said when officers searched the upstairs portion of the house they found similar conditions upstairs as well as more dogs, some which were in cages and others which were running loose, but, did not locate the 15-year-old. The deputy also noted in court documents that the child’s bed was also covered in urine and feces.

When deputies made a second pass through the home, they located the child hiding under a pile of blankets. The child would not speak with the officers and continued attempting to hide, Deputy Jerad Cook said, adding he and other officers later learned the child has “mental disabilities.”

The deputies were also able to locate Lanzarotta, whom they said was hiding under clothing inside a closet in the home. Deputy Jerad Cook arrested her on the outstanding warrant and also charged her with child neglect.

Deputies called the Department of Children’s Services and requested the on-call caseworker make an immediate response to the home.