Pontiac mom in squalor and abandonment case charged with welfare fraud

• Justice officers declare that Kelli Bryant left her kids and had the cash in pocket that was meant to assist them.
• Kelli Bryant was beforehand accused of three counts of first grade little one abuse after her three kids had been present in regrettable circumstances.
• Kelli Bryant is presently imprisoned with a money bond of $ 50,000, a big discount within the preliminary bond of $ 250 million that takes place within the little one abuse case.

The Pontiac mom who’s accused of abandoning her kids and forcing them to solely stay in Squalor, is now additionally confronted with three counts of welfare fraud – one depend for every little one whose authorities say they lived in a home of horror for 4 years.

Oakland County Officer Karen McDonald introduced the costs on Tuesday, claiming that the 34-year-old Kelli Bryant, from Pontiac, took greater than $ 29,000 in authorities assist that was meant to assist her kids.

In response to McDonald, A Overview of Bryant’s Help Funds by the Michigan Division of Well being and Human Providers Reveals There Was An Overpayment of $ 29.397 About Three Years, from January 2022 By February 2025. These are the YeaRTe the YeaRe the YeaRe the YeaRe the YeaRe the yeaare, For the YeaRe the YeaRe The YeaRe The YeaRe The YeaRe The YeaRe The YeaRe The YeaRe The Yeanden, For The YeaRe The Yeanden, The Yeanden, The Yeanden, The Yeanden, The YeaRy, The Yeanden, The YeaRy, The yea’s, These are the yeaary, These are the yeaary, These are the yeaary, These are the yeaary, these, the yeaary, These. Themselves in a Feces and Rubbish Ridden Rental on Lilac Lane in Pontiac, The place Two of the Youngsters Slag on Pizza Packing containers.

“The suspect appears to have successfully left her kids whereas gathering their public help,” McDonald stated in a press release. “This crime is primarily a theft of the kids of Kelli Bryant. These means had been meant to make sure that they’d refused the essential must them. The kids deserved higher. ‘

In response to McDonald, the kids of meals lived that was deposited of their home about as soon as per week – typically longer – by their mom or a meals supply service firm. She stated that the 2 youngest kids, each ladies, by no means left the home in 4 years as a result of their mom reportedly advised them to by no means go away or reply the door. The 15-year-old boy left the home solely a handful of turning: to verify the mail and contact the grass, stated the Oakland County sheriff workplace.

The welfare prices got here nearly a month after Bryant was accused of three counts of kid abuse within the first diploma, which punished by means of to life in jail.

Bryant was arrested on the identical day that the delegates of the Sheriff rescue her three kids – 12, 13 and 15 years – from an house on Lydia Lane after the owner had requested for a welfare verify. In response to the Sheriff workplace, the owner contacted their workplace on 14 February and stated that he had not acquired any hire since October (2024), nor had he heard from the kids’s mom since December. So the delegates and the owner went collectively to the house the place they discovered a horrible scene: no working rest room; Ebjectors within the tub and all through the home, and waste stacked 4 ft excessive in some rooms.

The our bodies and clothes of the kids had been additionally lined with droppings, the authorities stated, and their toenails had been so lengthy that they’d bother strolling.

Bryant is presently imprisoned with a money bond of $ 50,000. She was initially held on a bond of $ 250 million, though a brand new decide assessed and concluded that the quantity was extreme, and seen that the aim of bond is to not “punish”, however to make sure that the group is protected and {that a} suspect doesn’t fling.

Nevertheless, Bryant will most likely not come out if the feedback of her lawyer are a sign throughout a latest listening to.

“No person has the cash to publish a bond for her,” lawyer Cecilia Quirindongo-Baunoe advised the decide, and added that the mom can not afford the $ 800 monthly that she reportedly had labored for the state earlier than her arrest.

Quirindongo-Baunsoe was not instantly accessible on Tuesday for feedback to deal with the final prices.

Welfare fraud of greater than $ 500 is punishable with a most of 4 years in jail and/or a high quality of $ 5,000.

Please contact Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com