Pontiac mother arraigned on three child abuse charges, given $250 million bond

PONTIAC, Mich. (FOX 2) - A mother accused of leaving her children alone to live in squalor was arraigned on three counts of first-degree child abuse Thursday.

Kelli Marie Bryant, 34, was charged this week after her three children were found alone in a filthy Pontiac home last week.

Big picture view:

Bryant appeared via Zoom late Thursday morning before an Oakland County judge.

She waived a formal reading of the charges and stood mute, entering a not guilty plea through her defense attorney. 

Judge Ronda Gross gave Bryant a $250 million cash bond, telling the court she could not deny the mother bond. 

According to pretrial services, Bryant has two home addresses listed and the prosecuting attorney worried she may be a flight risk and may be considered transient.

She was ordered to have no contact with her three kids or any children under the age of 18. 

Her probable cause conference is scheduled for March 4 and a preliminary exam was set for March 11.

The backstory:

Authorities discovered Bryant's children, who are 15, 13, and 12, after her landlord called for a welfare check Friday at a home she was renting on Lydia Lane. He said he hadn't heard from Bryant since December, and she hadn't paid rent since October.

When authorities made their way into the condo, they found the three children living among filth.

According to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, the children said they were left alone in the home in 2020. Bryant was apparently dropping off food every so often.

What they're saying:

"This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for three children. They have been deprived of any interaction with their mother and have not received an education for years," Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.

Kelli Bryant's former sister-in-law Charlene Bryant called what was going on inside the home "horrendous." She said that the last she heard, the children were living with their grandmother, but hadn't seen Kelli in years.

"I'm kind of shocked it's this horrific," she said. "I'm devastated."

Dig deeper:

WARNING: The details of this story are disturbing.

When deputies arrived at the home, they found it full of garbage – piled as high as four feet in some rooms. The rooms were also covered in mold and human waste. The toilet was overflowing, and the bathtub was full of feces.

The boy, the oldest of the siblings, said they lived in the home with their mother but that she abandoned them in the spring or summer of 2020.

The children survived on food that was dropped off on the front porch each week by either their mother or a stranger.

But they had no access to toilet paper or personal hygiene items. The sheriff said they were unfamiliar with personal hygiene and didn't even know how to flush a toilet.

They had also not attended school since she left them and instead passed time by watching TV or playing games. The sheriff said the girls had not been outside in several years.

The boy slept on a mattress on the floor, but the two girls slept on pizza boxes.

According to deputies, neighbors were unaware that children lived in the home and had never seen them. They said they had seen their mother at the home each month.

The kids were all wearing soiled clothing with matted hair and toenails so long that it was difficult to walk.

Crime and Public SafetyPontiac