Child begs for food; mom out clubbing

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http://www.khou.com/news/child-begs-for-food-mom-out-clubbing/458796171

When a little girl knocked on James Fisher’s door asking for food at 7 p.m., Saturday evening, he was more than happy to welcome her inside for a heaping plate of spaghetti and to play with his kittens.

“It was pretty obvious, she wanted help. She wanted us to do something about it,” Fisher said of the girl, whose mother was nowhere to be found.

By about 2 a.m., Fisher said, the 11-year-old girl was sleeping on his couch. Fed up with no sign of her mother, Deborah Oats, he called the police, relaying what the girl had told him, which was that her mom was out "clubbing"--a frequent occurrence according to him.

“It’s just unacceptable for a mother to do whatever she wants when she has a kid at home.”

After a call to police, he took the girl back to her neighboring apartment she shared with 52-year-old Oats.

Upon entering the apartment, a thick wall of humidity hit Fisher's face, as he saw a “colony of roaches scattered throughout” the living room, kitchen, bedroom and across a broken air conditioner.

Fisher also witnessed a slew of fleas and ticks, attributed to the family’s dog and three cats, as well as a dirty mattress in the girl's bedroom.

“The apartment was a wreck; it was horrible—like if you’ve ever seen an episode ‘Hoarders,’ almost like that,” Fisher recalled.