A Collier County couple is charged with child abuse, after their two toddler boys were found living in filthy conditions.
21-year-old John Bedford and 23-year-old Heather Smith were arrested Wednesday.
According to Collier County Sheriff's reports the family lived in a small trailer in the town of Copeland, a small rural community along State Road 29.
The report says dirty diapers and soiled sheets were found strewn on the floor. One child had 30 flea bites and the other had several bruises on his body. One of the boys was taken to Naples Community Hospital.
"It's his word against her's," said Sherry Bedford, John Bedford's cousin.
Sherry says John moved in with Heather a few months ago. The family is stunned by the news of John's arrest.
"It's very traumatizing, my daughter just seen it on TV, she's crying, she thinks of him as a big brother because he's lived with us for years, it's devastating."
Sherry says the family is working to get John bailed out of the Collier County Jail.
