Katelynn Schengeli

A Tyler mother and father have been charged with child endangerment after police say their children were found in poor physical shape inside a house filled with the smell of feces.

Katelynn Schengeli, 26, and her live-in boyfriend, Corey Evans, 27, were arrested last week on four counts of child endangerment at a Rhones Quarter Road residence.

Schengeli was booked into the Smith County Jail Thursday released the same day on bonds totaling $20,000.

After police obtained warrants, Evans was arrested later Thursday and booked into the Smith County Jail on bonds totaling $200,000, according to jail records.

The Smith County Sheriff’s Office came to her residence Wednesday night after Schengeli’s 8-year-old child called 911 because his mother was unresponsive at the location.

Evans and Schengeli are parents of 4-year-old twin girls and an 11-month-old infant, according to the sheriff’s office.

When deputies arrived, Schengeli was responsive but under the influence of alcohol, police said. She admitted to drinking liquor earlier Wednesday.

Police said they found the 11-month-old infant and EMS reported the child was covered in feces that had spilled out of an already full diaper. EMS workers had to change the infant’s diaper and clean the feces off.

Law enforcement then heard screaming from across the home and found the 4-year-old twin girls locked inside of a room using a large safe to block the exit door.

One of the twins was begging for water and the other was sleeping on the floor, without clothes and next to a dirty diaper. Both girls were quickly given adequate clothing and water to drink, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Upon arrival, investigators entered the residence and observed the living conditions of the mobile home to be extremely inadequate for children,” Sgt. Larry Christian, sheriff’s office spokesperson, described in a statement. “The residence was extremely dirty and had a very potent odor of feces emitting from each of the rooms.”

The twin girls and the 11-month-old infant appeared to be in poor physical shape, and EMS personnel called the children malnourished, noting the 11-month-old was the size of a 3-6-month-old infant, police said.

Child Protective Services was requested and upon the agency’s arrival, the kids were removed from the home. The infant and twins were taken to UT Health for a medical evaluation.

The sheriff’s office said this investigation is ongoing and more information will be released when it becomes available.