Flagler County mother accused of child neglect

Flagler County deputies arrested a mother after responding to a report of a naked child with autism wandering alone outside and discovering what they called hazardous living conditions inside her Palm Coast home.

Body camera footage captured a deputy describing one of the bedrooms as being treated "as if a litter box." Carla Nishikura, 41, responded, "A litter box? You know what, choose your choice of words, sir."

Flagler County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Joseph Barile described the conditions inside the home. "Inside the house, there was feces on the floor, ceiling, walls that were, outlets, with electrical wires, showing. And it was it was pretty disgusting," he said.

Nishikura now faces three felony counts of child neglect.

According to the arrest report, one bedroom was off-limits to the children due to biohazardous conditions. The report stated that fecal matter in the room had been present for about a month and was described as "hard as a rock." Deputies also observed a child "using a tool to scrape fecal matter from the wall and manipulate it with (their) hands."

The Department of Children and Families (DCF) was already aware of the home’s conditions. A case manager had visited the house the day before, filed a report, and attempted to arrange a cleaning crew. However, the cleaning crew declined due to the biohazard conditions.

When asked if more could have been done in the case, Barile said, "I don't want to speculate on what DCF should have and should have or should have not done. We did contact DCF ourselves, and they were able to come and assist and find placement for the children."