FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A Fort Pierce pastor is behind bars, facing five felony charges of child neglect.

Police say the five children Gwendolyn Rolle, 59, was trusted to take care of were found living in deplorable conditions.

According to authorities, all five kids were forced to live in the same room where they were not allowed to bathe and were starved.

Police said Rolle was acting as an unofficial foster parent for the five siblings, whose ages range between 4 and 9, after their father left them in her care.

Two of the children are non-verbal and attend a special needs school, police said.

“They were just left there for her to care for,” said Fort Pierce Police Department Maj. Michael Santiago. “She is not a licensed foster care parent. This was she was doing a favor for somebody, and what ended up happening was the sequence of events with this was that she neglected their childcare.”

According to Rolle’s arrest affidavit, police received an anonymous tip on June 2 reporting abuse and neglect at her Fort Pierce home.

When officers got there, they said they found the home in a deplorable state.

“That house has two bathrooms, one in the master and one for open use of the rest of the house,” said Santiago. “That bathroom was completely gutted. So there was no shower, there was no bathtub. There was a toilet that was completely stuffed, clogged.”

Authorities said Rolle kept the master bathroom locked when she wasn’t at home.

“We had reports and eyewitness information that the kids were using the bathroom in a bucket outside of the house,” said Santiago. “That was the only way they were allowed to use the bathroom. So, they weren’t showering, they weren’t bathing, they weren’t cleaning themselves. At times they would be left without eating any food.”

Santiago says witnesses even reported seeing the children bathing on the porch with a hose as their siblings held up a bedsheet to block the view.

According to police, the children would often only eat at school, with one teacher stating in the report that sometimes the odor coming from the kids was so strong that she had to use a spray to “freshen up the room.”

The children also reported being hit by Rolle when disciplined.

“The investigation is ongoing,” said Santiago. “The big thing about this is that we were able to get the kids out of that environment so that they can continue on living a good life, a better life, and not being in those conditions.”

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