Deputies serving a search warrant were forced to wear protective body suits due to the large amount of human and dog feces and urine in a house recently in Ozark County. The deputies reported despite the suits, the conditions were so deplorable, they were throwing up while they worked the scene.
Two people were arrested after drugs, about 20 cats and one dog were found in the house that had no running water. Twenty-eight-year-old James William Bliss of Gainesville, the homeowner, and 32-year-old Sarah Sue Prewett of Caulfield, who also lived there, are each facing four charges, including two felonies each.
According to the probable cause affidavit from the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were executing a narcotics search warrant. When they arrived at the residence, they said due to the unsanitary conditions and the waste from both humans and animals, along with the extreme odor, the were forced to put on protective body suits.
The deputies noted there was fecal matter all over the floor and urine in buckets and on the floor. The animals had their food thrown on top of piles of fecal matter. There were no water or sewer capabilities in the house and no water for the animals.
The deputies also found a mirror, a glass container, a pill bottle and a glass smoking device, each with a white substance on it that field tested positive for methamphetamine.
Bliss and Prewett are each facing felony charges of possession of a controlled substance and keeping or maintaining a public nuisance along with misdemeanor charges of animal neglect or abandonment and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia. Both were released on supervised bond release or what is known as their own recognizance.
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