Warrant: 10-Month-Old Baby Found in Acworth Eating Own Feces

Update, 5:55 a.m. Thursday

For an update, read .

Original report, 3:45 p.m. Wednesday

A 10-month-old girl was found Saturday night in Acworth surrounded by trash, clad in urine-soaked clothes, wearing a soiled diaper and eating her own waste.

An officer with the Acworth Police Department made the discovery just after 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Shell Travel Plaza on Cowan Road, according to a Cobb County criminal warrant.

He went up to a 1994 Ford Thunderbird "after observing suspicious behavior over a period of time," records show.

The warrant doesn't specify what the officer observed, and Capt. Mark Cheatham with the Acworth Police Department was not immediately available for comment.

Inside the car was the child's mother, Mindy Kay Parton of Rome. 

As the officer talked with Parton, he saw the 10-month-old baby in a car seat in the rear of the Thunderbird. After getting a whiff of a "strong, foul odor," the officer realized the source.

Parton's daughter was surrounded by trash and clothing. Her arms, hands, legs and face were covered in filth. Her clothing and body were soaked in urine. And feces oozed from a diaper that appeared to be more than a day-old.

"She was able to place her hands in the runoff feces and urine and then put her hands in her mouth," the officer wrote in the warrant. "It was evident with the condition the child was in that it had not had a diaper change or a bath in some time."

The baby was taken into protective custody and bathed before being turned over to the Division of Family and Children Services.

Authorities had to get rid of the girl's soiled diaper, clothing and car seat because of potential health hazards, according to the warrant.

A review of DFACS records revealed that Saturday was not the first time that authorities found the girl in unhealthy conditions. Parton has a pending case in Floyd County over a similar incident involving her daughter.

And prior to Saturday's arrest on a charge of cruelty to children in the first degree, Parton was in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on March 14. In that case, she allegedly stood in the roadway while soliciting a ride, according to online jail records. She was released March 16 on a $1,000 bond.

In the latest case, she was released Tuesday on a $5,000 bond.