Update: Dyess Security Forces Apprehend Active Duty Member in Child Neglect Case
By: BCH News Staff
Updated: February 8, 2013
Update: Dyess Security Forces Apprehend Active Duty Member in Child Neglect Case
APD has released the following information:
On February 7 at about 9:15 p.m., officers with the Abilene Police Department (APD) responded to an assist-agency call at a residence in the 100 block of Virginia Street at Dyess Air Force Base.
APD had been notified by a Dyess representative requesting APD assistance at a residence that was described as unsanitary and containing animal feces.
Officers and base officials were given access to the residence. Officers initially discovered seven dogs living at the residence and learned an active duty member was living there with two adult females, one being the member's spouse.
The preliminary investigation revealed unsanitary conditions at the residence that presented an immediate danger to three children, ages seven, four and 11-months, also residing at the home.
Officials with Dyess Security Forces apprehended the male active-duty member. APD officers arrested Britni N. Valdez, 26, and Kayla J. Phillips, 22, for three counts each of state-jail felony Child Endangerment.
Child Protective Services responded to assist and took protective custody of the three children. The three children did not require immediate medical attention.
The investigation continues and APD is working directly with Dyess officials as part of the criminal investigation. Because we are still in the middle of this investigation, more details may become available as the investigation allows.
Original Story: Children Found in Filthy Home, Women Charged with Neglect
Two women living on Dyess Air Force Base are being charged for severally neglecting three children.
Abilene police were called to assist Dyess law enforcement.
When police entered the home where they located 22-year-old Kayla Joanne Phillips and 26-year-old Britni Nicole Valdez, they found piles of laundry, stacks of trash and rooms covered in dog feces from seven dogs living in the home.
Law enforcement also found three children living in the home located on 176 Virginia on Dyess.
Both women are charged with three counts of abandoning and endangering a child.
More information on this case will follow when available.
APD has released the following information:
On February 7 at about 9:15 p.m., officers with the Abilene Police Department (APD) responded to an assist-agency call at a residence in the 100 block of Virginia Street at Dyess Air Force Base.
APD had been notified by a Dyess representative requesting APD assistance at a residence that was described as unsanitary and containing animal feces.
Officers and base officials were given access to the residence. Officers initially discovered seven dogs living at the residence and learned an active duty member was living there with two adult females, one being the member's spouse.
The preliminary investigation revealed unsanitary conditions at the residence that presented an immediate danger to three children, ages seven, four and 11-months, also residing at the home.
Officials with Dyess Security Forces apprehended the male active-duty member. APD officers arrested Britni N. Valdez, 26, and Kayla J. Phillips, 22, for three counts each of state-jail felony Child Endangerment.
Child Protective Services responded to assist and took protective custody of the three children. The three children did not require immediate medical attention.
The investigation continues and APD is working directly with Dyess officials as part of the criminal investigation. Because we are still in the middle of this investigation, more details may become available as the investigation allows.
Original Story: Children Found in Filthy Home, Women Charged with Neglect
Two women living on Dyess Air Force Base are being charged for severally neglecting three children.
Abilene police were called to assist Dyess law enforcement.
When police entered the home where they located 22-year-old Kayla Joanne Phillips and 26-year-old Britni Nicole Valdez, they found piles of laundry, stacks of trash and rooms covered in dog feces from seven dogs living in the home.
Law enforcement also found three children living in the home located on 176 Virginia on Dyess.
Both women are charged with three counts of abandoning and endangering a child.
More information on this case will follow when available.
Comments
I don't understand how this is getting turned around on Dyess. How is it their fault that a family lives in filth and neglects their children? Years ago, military housing had inspections of living quarters. Maybe the should go back to that. As for being mistreated by the military, they pay no rent, they pay no utilities, their health care is provided. How is that mistreated? Those houses are just a few years old and nice. As a parent I would feel like a failure if I had raised a child that chose to live like this and as a grandparent, I would be furious that my grandchildren lived in this.
diane d.
February 11, 2013 at 1:18 pm
From what I found via FB, Debbie is Kayla's mother. Only natural she would defend her daughter, but it's not natural to allow her grandchildren to be neglected, abandoned, or to live in filth. Kayla apparently wasn't ashamed of the nastiness. You can clearly see the filth in the photos she posted to her FB wall. Not sure why they are leaving the Air Force members name out of the press. I know what it is simply by looking up his wife. He too has photos. At least one of their dogs was a pitbull. We all know those are forbidden on base as well as having more than two dogs/cats.......
Jennifer P.
February 10, 2013 at 9:45 pm
@Robert, I think we all have that fear of being "nosy neighbors". Sadly at Dyess nosiness seems to be needed. That base is so poorly run. That is not an excuse for people neglecting their children. They are solely to blame for that, but the people running the base need to do a better job at taking care of their people as well. They don't do anything for anyone on that base. Nothing to boost morale at all.
Jennifer P.
February 10, 2013 at 9:38 pm
@Debbie-Ok so here's one for the books. If you think that these girls did nothing wrong and you are going to stick up for them dont you think it would be appropriate that you tell everyone that they are in fact your daughters.... I mean if you have nothing to be ashamed of why just say that you know them very well. Something to hide maybe? Maybe just dont want people to know that they learned ever bit of this from you their mother. I pitty those poor girls because maybe if they had a mother that cared enough to clean and take care of them they wouldn't be in this situation right now..
Amanda A.
February 10, 2013 at 2:32 pm
Yes, I honestly should have said something when I seen how messy that house was. I guess I was just giving them the benefit of the doubt since I didn't know anything about them. I didn't even know that they had children at the time. In the future I will report anything that looks out of the ordinary. There has been way too many incident's on Dyess.
Robert R.
February 10, 2013 at 10:48 am
If you SEE something, SAY something.
Farm G.
February 10, 2013 at 10:46 am
@debbieduff...comments are just everyone's opinions. While I do not mean to offend anyone reading what my opinion is, I have no concern as to what their thoughts of my opinion are. It seems to me that in cases like this it's always someone else's fault. That gets under my skin. As far as the girls and husband....no I don't know them personally, I don't know their daily lives. Ok, laundry - yeah I could see it getting piled up in a week, 3 kids 3 adults, jobs, dinner, school, schedules - I can get that, maybe laundry is a weekend chore. What I fail to "see" in this story is a reason for 7 dogs, and feces everywhere? It had to be quite extensive for cps to be called in for assistance. Thankfully it was discovered before any of the children were hurt by their surroundings (note I said surroundings not parents, I make no claim to know if they're physically abusive or not) unlike in the other Dyess afb case of abuse. I fail to understand how two adult women and an adult male could let things get the way they did. It truly saddens me that those children were subjected to such living arrangements no matter how long of or short of time frame it has been that way. It should never have gotten that way to begin with. Those kids have been thrust into an investigation of their family now, it's a domino effect and the children suffer the most. But then again, that's just my opinion.
Jamie J.
February 10, 2013 at 7:41 am
As neighbors seeing that kind of thing, you should have notified housing of it. It's time for neighbors to step up. In the case of Tiffany Klapheke, there is no way at least one neighbor didn't suspect something was off. The silence has to stop.
Jennifer P.
February 9, 2013 at 11:22 pm
I've walked by their house quite often and once their door was open and my wife and I were astonished at the mess we seen in just the small area we could see. It reminded me of that show "Hoarder's". There have been people there all day cleaning and moving everything out. Good riddance in my opinion.
Robert R.
February 9, 2013 at 8:25 pm
@Debbie-One doesn't get charged with "severely neglecting their children" unless there is concrete proof of it. Those women didn't make a tiny mistake. They put the lives of CHILDREN in danger. You are a fine example as to why society sucks today. You give compassion and forgiveness to trash while ignoring the suffering of CHILDREN.
Jennifer P.
February 9, 2013 at 11:26 am
And for the record, I am happy to say that we are a military family. And we have no complaints out of the ordinary. You are given a house to live in, if you don't like the house...move off base. You are responsible for cleaning your own house. The miitary didn't make them get 7 dogs. Place the blame where it belongs.
Dawnetta D.
February 8, 2013 at 7:41 pm
Where there is smoke there is fire. Face it, we live in a very judgemental world. They are not going to place a $60,000 bond on someone who they don't believe is guilty. The dog feces and trash bags just didn't get there overnight. So how clean are they. And 7 dogs living in a house, is over the top for the best dog lover. This is news and people are free to comment. Just like you are. The comments that I read, were far from stupid. Everybody else in the world can't be wrong. And if these are people that you know and think/claim to be clean people, I would hate to see what your house looks like. Wow! Just sad...
Dawnetta D.
February 8, 2013 at 7:36 pm
FIRST OFF WHY NOT HEAR THE TRUTH BEFORE PASSING JUDGEMENT ON ANYBODY!!!!!!! THE KIDS ARE NOT AND NEVER WERE IN CPS CUSTODY!!!!!!!!! WHY NOT LOOK AT THE WAY THE AIR FORCE TREATS THEIR SOLDIERS......UMMM DOGS?? YES THEY GOT OUT AND MADE A MESS,,,,,KIDS MISTREATED OR NEGLECTED UMMMMMM NOT IN THIS LIFE TIME!! ALL 3 VERY HEALTHY CHILDREN HOW DO I KNOW ANY OF THIS??? I KNOW THEM VERY VERY WELL AND I HAVE SEEN (AND SO HAVE LOTS OF PEOPLE IN ABILENE) HOW THESE CHILDREN AND THE ADULTS ARE CLEAN.....BOTTOM LINE IF YOU DON'T FREAKIN KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS OR EVEN A BIT OF THE "STORY" AND I MEAN STORY THAT HAS BEEN STREACHED QUITE A BIT!!! KEEP YOUR FREAKIN COMMENTS TO YOURSELF!!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY IF MOM AND GRANDMA IS GOING TO READ YOUR STUPID JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS... bet you are ALLL perfect???? VERY DOUBTFUL!!! EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES SO LIVE WITH IT!!!!!
DebbieDuff D.
February 8, 2013 at 6:34 pm
FIRST OFF WHY NOT HEAR THE TRUTH BEFORE PASSING JUDGEMENT ON ANYBODY!!!!!!! THE KIDS ARE NOT AND NEVER WERE IN CPS CUSTODY!!!!!!!!! WHY NOT LOOK AT THE WAY THE AIR FORCE TREATS THEIR SOLDIERS......UMMM DOGS?? YES THEY GOT OUT AND MADE A MESS,,,,,KIDS MISTREATED OR NEGLECTED UMMMMMM NOT IN THIS LIFE TIME!! ALL 3 VERY HEALTHY CHILDREN HOW DO I KNOW ANY OF THIS??? I KNOW THEM VERY VERY WELL AND I HAVE SEEN (AND SO HAVE LOTS OF PEOPLE IN ABILENE) HOW THESE CHILDREN AND THE ADULTS ARE CLEAN.....BOTTOM LINE IF YOU DON'T FREAKIN KNOW WHAT THE TRUTH IS OR EVEN A BIT OF THE "STORY" AND I MEAN STORY THAT HAS BEEN STREACHED QUITE A BIT!!! KEEP YOUR FREAKIN COMMENTS TO YOURSELF!!!!!!!! ESPECIALLY IF MOM AND GRANDMA IS GOING TO READ YOUR STUPID JUDGMENTAL COMMENTS... bet you are ALLL perfect???? VERY DOUBTFUL!!! EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES SO LIVE WITH IT!!!!!
DebbieDuff D.
February 8, 2013 at 6:33 pm
While Yes I do agree with you Jamie J. that this isn't the military's job to look after those in housing, it is there job to make sure that their service members and their family are taken care of. I understand that not everyone wants to be checked on from time to time, but clearly this is a issue at this base. Im from Abilene, and met my husband while he was stationed at Dyess, and this isn't the first and sure won't be the last case like this. Given i didnt live on base when we lived there, I do currently live on base at our new base (fairchild) and I've had people randomly stop by since we have been stationed here the last year. More so since my husband has been deployed. They check on me to make sure that I dont need anything, or that my kids are taken care of. Yes its annoying at times, But i know at the same time they care about the well being of not only me but my kids. If more higher-ups would take on the challenge of checking on their airman and their families maybe more of this could be caught before hand.
Denver M.
February 8, 2013 at 5:19 pm
it's not the military's job to "look after" someone in housing. These girls are legal adults, they weren't forced to have 7 dogs and let their kids walk around in filth. it's about dang time people start taking responsibility for their own actions. you wanna be treated like an adult, act like one. don't make your kids suffer because you don't want to grow the heck up!!
Jamie J.
February 8, 2013 at 4:49 pm
maybe this something about the air force and how well they look after the people living in the base housing?
Jim T.
February 8, 2013 at 3:03 pm
maybe this something about the air force and how well they look after the people living in the base housing?
Jim T.
February 8, 2013 at 3:03 pm
