Palm Coast Man Arrested After Toddler Found Wandering

The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office arrested 39-year-old Nicholas Carter and Friday, after his toddler was reportedly found wandering the neighborhood unsupervised. The arrest came after deputies discovered what Sheriff Rick Staly described as ‘deplorable’ living conditions for the toddler and four other children in Carter’s home.

A report was placed with the FCSO about an unattended child on Friday after a grocery delivery person claimed the toddler entered her vehicle as she made a stop at Barley Lane. She called in a child between one and two years of age, and said that the tot wandered into an open B Section garage after leaving her vehicle.

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Deputies located the child’s residence and knocked on the door. According to their report, Carter answered and stated that his son had walked to the edge of the driveway and was on his own for only minutes. Deputies observed apparent garbage and food on the floor of the residence, prompting them to request to see the home. Carter reportedly gave his consent, and the deputies entered the residence.

The house is said to be home to Carter, the kids’ mother, a roommate and five children ages two, four, eight, fifteen, and sixteen. Upon going inside the house, deputies said they smelled a distinct odor of “feces, urine, mold, and mildew”. The kids in the house were reportedly walking barefoot in these conditions, where deputies saw “large clumps of fecal matter”. They continued looking around, finding an array of objectionable living conditions, including “fuzzy fecal matter” in the laundry room, plus garbage and food waste strewn throughout the home.

The kitchen is said to have contained masses of dirty dishes, rotting food, cockroaches, and flies. Knives were said to have been left out where they were easily accessible to the children. When shown where the younger children slept, deputies said they saw more garbage and urine on the floor. There was fecal matter in the closet (every home has a theme), and while there were two beds, there was also bedding on the floor, with the urine and garbage. There were flies reportedly in the room as well.

Deputies then brought Carter outside to speak with him more, presumably granting them reprieve from prolonged exposure to the man’s home. He told deputies, according to the report, that one toddler enjoyed hanging out in the garage. Upon checking the garage, deputies said they found power tools, exposed wires, sharp object, a BB gun, and a marijuana pipe within the toddler’s reach – but they didn’t report fecal matter.

Carter’s roommate was present, and reportedly told deputies he was aware the living conditions of his home were ‘frowned upon’, an understatement if the deputies’ description was even in the vicinity of accurate. Carter helpfully added that the home was ‘a little dirty’, and did not provide deputies with what they considered to be a reasonable explanation for the human waste strewn about, to make nothing of the garbage and insects.

Deputies arrested Carter on charges of child neglect without great bodily harm, and later with nonviolent obstruction when he allegedly acted non-cooperatively with deputies when they arrested him. He was booked into the county jail and released on $3,500 bond the following day. It’s his second Flagler County booking, following another child neglect charge in February 2020; the charge was listed as being without great bodily harm but with an aggravated assault tag.

A spokesperson with the FCSO writes that Carter’s house has had deputies called to it sixteen times, including another instance in March 2023 when a child was found wandering in the roadway. On December 30th, 2023 Carter reportedly called the Palm Coast Fire Department to respond to a child having seizure from ingesting marijuana. According to the National Institutes of Health, consumption of marijuana by children does present the risk of seizure in severe cases. The children’s plight was communicated on Friday to the Florida Department of Children and Families.

“Five children, three under the age of 10, living in deplorable conditions with an adult who obviously doesn’t care about these children,” Sheriff Staly said of the incident. “On top of it all, FCSO has a history with this guy, in one case a child ate marijuana and had a seizure while under this man’s care. Hopefully, this time DCF will take serious action to turn the homelife around for these children, the least of which is to learn how to be a parent and clean up his house. I also thank the citizen that ‘saw something and said something’ so deputies could intervene.”