Florida pastor starved 5 children in her care and kept them in filthy home, police say
She is accused of assaulting the children and neglecting them while caring for her own child.
A Florida past entrusted with the care of five children made them urinate and defecate into a bucket and starved them while feeding her own child well, police said.
59-year-old Gwendolyn Denise Rolle took in the children after their father left town, according to the Fort Pierce Police Dept. The children were ages 4 to 9 years old, and two of them were nonverbal.
The school also gave the children perfume so that they wouldn't be bullied at school over the smell.
WPEC-TV reported that police were tipped off to the conditions at the home by an anonymous report.
Rolle allegedly locked the children out of her master suite in the Fort Pierce home, which cut off their access to the only functioning toilet.
RThe other toilet was in a bathroom filled with feces, forcing the children to defecate in a blue-green bucket that neighbors said they saw being emptied by the children.
Without access to a shower, the children also had to shower outside with a garden hose as they held a bedsheet to provide some privacy.
Rolle would starve the children but feed her own child fast food, according to police. The children were forced to share single packets of ramen or go to bed hungry.
One of the children smelled so strongly of fecal matter that a school official reported that a teacher had to spray the classroom with air freshener. The school also gave the children perfume so that they wouldn't be bullied at school over the smell.
Rolle allegedly abused them regularly with slaps to the face, and she would call them "bastards."
Police reported that one of the nonverbal children was kept from school to conceal a bruise he got from the abuse.
She allegedly whispered a threat to the children as they stood on the home's porch: "Once he leaves, you're gonna get it."
Police said neighbors were afraid to report Rolle because of the standing she had in the community as a pastor.
RELATED: Cops investigating home odor home thought someone died — they found kids living in filthy conditions
Rolle faces five felony counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.
WPEC reported that Rolle had bonded out of jail and nobody responded when a reporter knocked on the door of her home.
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