A man in Upper Chichester Township, Pennsylvania has been arrested after police alleged finding his mother “fused” to her bed in her own filth during a wellness check Sunday.
Daniel Klein, 51, has been charged with abusing a “care-dependent person” and “recklessly endangering another person,” according to a Upper Chichester Township Police Department (UCTPD) press release.
A neighbor notified police after not seeing Klein or mother for “months” and noticing packages piling up on the porch and no one answering the doors, police stated, ABC 6 reported.
Woman fused to sheets in Pennsylvania: Daniel Klein arrested after mother found in soiled bed in Upper Chichester – 6abc Philadelphia https://t.co/hx14fkjmAx
— Walter Perez (@WalterPerez6abc) April 9, 2024
Responding officers forced entry upon observing “numerous flies present in the windows,” believing “the residents inside were either deceased or having a medical emergency,” according to the UCTPD press release.
At the scene, “police observed large amounts of trash and packages inside the front door and throughout the entryway making it difficult to fully open the front door,” the press release stated. Law enforcement “immediately made contact with Daniel Klein” after their entry. Police additionally “detected a foul odor.”
Klein led officers to his mother who was “unconscious and breathing” under a soiled blanket in the master bedroom, the UCTPD alleged in the press release. The officers summoned Crozer EMS. Medical personnel discovered the woman’s “lower half to be covered in dried feces and maggots” and her “to be fused to the bed sheets” and have “ram’s horn toenails,” the UCTPD alleged. (RELATED: Police Arrest Nursing Home Employee After 82-Year-Old Froze To Death During Blizzard)
Police alleged that Klein said he was his mother’s only caretaker, according to ABC 6. He allegedly further said she had been abed for three to four weeks, police added, according to the outlet. Investigators reportedly alleged the woman may have been in the bed for months.
Both Klein and his mother, whose name and age have been withheld, were taken to Crozer Chester Medical Center, according to the press release. The woman was found to be in serious condition, ABC 6 reported.
“This is one of the worst cases I’ve seen in my four years as district attorney here,” Delaware County D.A. Jack Stollsteimer told ABC 6. “And for this person, the defendant Klein, to do this to his own mother, it’s just… I can’t even imagine.”
Klein is being held at George Hill Correctional Facility after being unable to post 10% of his $50,000 bail, the press release stated.
“Main point is, reach out when you are in trouble. Somebody should have called for an ambulance a long time ago. Thank god the neighbor did,” neighbor Diane Bernhard told FOX 29.