Police: Two small children found in filthy home

A husband and wife remained in custody Wednesday after detectives investigating a fraud report found the couple's young children living in filthy conditions in a North Carson City apartment.

Cory Alexander Baird, 26, a hotel clerk, and his wife, Sarah Viola Baird, 22, an assisted-living caregiver, were each booked into the Carson City Jail on suspicion of felony child neglect and endangerment charges.

According to the arrest report, Detectives Brian Humphrey and Dave Legros went to the Bairds' Broadleaf apartment at 2 p.m. Tuesday to talk with Cory Baird about a check he'd written.

"When I entered the apartment I noticed it had trash, food and dirty clothes lying around everywhere," Humphrey said. "We found a 2-year-old female child with no clothes on lying in a crib with feces on her. The crib, bedding and wall next to the crib had feces all over."

Humphrey said the floor of the room was littered with trash, soiled diapers, toys and clothing.

In another cluttered room, a 9-month-old boy was found wearing only a diaper and lying in a crib on a urine-stained mattress, he said.

According to the report, a jug of milk in the refrigerator was past its expiration date and photographs of the scene show four boxes of doughnuts and a can of WD-40 in the food cabinets.

"The kitchen and the dining room area were full of trash that was piled up. Some of the trash was in bags. However, it was mostly loose and as high as four feet or more in spots," Humphrey wrote. "The master bedroom was so cluttered with trash and empty fast-food boxes that there were hardly any spots where the carpet could be seen."

He stated the trash, which completely surrounded the bed, reached to the top of the mattress.

Both Legros and Humphrey said they found no evidence of drug or alcohol use in the apartment.

A representative from the Division of Child and Family Services made arrangements for the children's maternal grandmother to pick them up. Humphrey said the division had an "active case on the parents for a few months and did not get any cooperation from them," after a doctor reported the infant was failing to thrive.

During the booking process, Cory Baird allegedly stated he did not believe in taking his children to the doctor and he didn't think jail would be a sanitary place for him. Sarah Baird, four months pregnant with the couple's third child, allegedly asked Humphrey if jailers "would give her pretty clothes to wear," according to the report.

Both are being held on $40,000 bail.

n Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.