Mother of child 'covered in feces' pleads guilty to neglect

A mother whose young children were found home alone and covered in feces last year has pleaded guilty to one of the charges against her as part of a deal with prosecutors.

Destinee Kristine Miller, 26, of Des Moines, appeared Thursday in Polk County District Court and pleaded guilty to neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, a class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

"I left my children at home alone without supervision. It was not safe to do that because there was dog feces in most of the house" and because the dogs were sick, Miller said in court, explaining her charge.

Miller had also faced three counts of child endangerment, but those were dropped in exchange for her guilty plea to the neglect charge.

As part of the deal, prosecutors have said they will not resist if Miller asks for a deferred judgment and probation instead of prison time as long as she is following the terms of her release and is not charged with a new crime.

Polk County District Court Judge Heather Lauber accepted Miller's plea and set her sentencing for March 26.

A sentencing judge is free to reject the sentence recommended by the plea deal if they feel a different sentence is appropriate.

Police found Miller's 4-year-old, 2-year-old and 1-year-old children unsupervised outside their home in the 100 block of Fulton Drive on Oct. 9, police and court records show.

They found the oldest child, a 4-year-old boy, trying to take care of the two younger children.

The 2-year-old "was naked and covered in feces from head to toe," a Des Moines police report showed.

The 1-year-old "was only wearing a diaper that was full," the report showed.

The 4-year-old told police that he had taken his siblings outside because he was trying to cook breakfast for them, "but the oven was making a sound, and he got scared," according to the report.

Officers said the children were left alone for over an hour and that the stove was on and hot inside the kitchen, according to a criminal complaint. The children were turned over to the Iowa Department of Human Services.

There were "hundreds of mounds of feces" and urine left by several dogs that lived in the home, as well as spoiled food and human waste, the complaint said.

Miller also faces four counts of animal neglect and four of her dogs were removed from her home by the Animal Rights League. Two more dogs were found at-large by the ARL.

She pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in December after police said she stabbed her ex-boyfriend at their Fulton Drive home on Oct. 28. That charge was downgraded from domestic abuse assault with a dangerous weapon as part of a separate plea deal and Miller was ordered to pay a $65 fine, court records show.