PONTIAC, Mich. – The Pontiac woman accused of abandoning her children and leaving them in what officials described as squalor for years has pleaded no contest to child abuse charges.
Kelli Bryant, 35, pleaded no contest to three counts of first-degree child abuse on Thursday, July 16.
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In February 2025, Bryant was charged with three counts of first-degree child abuse after authorities found her three children — a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and a 12-year-old girl — living alone in squalor.
Prosecutors said the children were left home alone for several years.
Officials said garbage was piled as high as four feet in some rooms and that mold and feces were found throughout the home.
They survived on food drop-offs that Bryant sent using services like DoorDash and Instacart, but they allegedly were never sent toilet paper, soap or shampoo during their abandonment.
Bryant had previously pleaded no contest to three counts of welfare fraud in December. She was sentenced on the welfare charges in June.
She is expected to be sentenced on the child abuse charges on Sept. 1 at 1:30 p.m.