A 35-year-old Lyndon mother is facing criminal charges after police found her five children, ranging from 7 months to 9 years old, living in what officers described as deplorable conditions inside a one-bedroom apartment on Fossil Court. Desiree Nicole Pohlmann was arrested this week after officers responded to reports that the young children had been left unattended outside and wandering into the roadway, forcing passing vehicles to steer around them.
Lyndon police were called to the 10100 block of Fossil Court on August 31 after a caller reported the children alone outside, according to WDRB. Concerned community members had alerted Lyndon police about the children, according to WLKY, which first reported the arrest. Once inside, officers reportedly found old food smeared on the walls, mold throughout the home, and the smell of human and canine urine noticeable from outside the residence, according to a news release cited by the outlet.
Children Found Sleeping on the Floor Without Enough Food
According to WLKY's reporting, the apartment lacked sufficient food or water for the five children, who had reportedly been sleeping on the floor. The unit's air conditioning was not working during one of the summer's hottest weeks, the outlet reported, and officers said they found feces and urine inside the home. Lyndon police officers ended up buying food for the children using their own money during the initial response, per WLKY's account.
Court documents specify the ages of the five children as 9, 7, 4, 17 months, and 7 months old, according to WDRB. All five were transported to a children's hospital, where a Child Protective Services worker described them as being in the worst condition she had seen in years, WLKY reported. Responding officers were also unable to locate prescribed medications for several of the children, according to WHAS11, which also reported that court records noted Pohlmann was aware of available community assistance resources but was unwilling to seek them or keep scheduled appointments.
Grandmother Present Despite Prior Safety Plan Restriction
Pohlmann's 76-year-old mother was present with the children in the apartment at the time, according to WLKY. Court records indicate Pohlmann had taken a day trip to Lexington and left the children in her mother's care, even though the grandmother is a dialysis patient whom Child Protective Services had previously designated in a safety plan as physically unable to care for the children, per the same WDRB report.
The children were reportedly removed from Pohlmann's care in April 2025, according to the arrest citation, before Jefferson County Family Court returned them to her custody in March 2026 — roughly five months before officers found them in the condition described this week. Lyndon police thanked Child Protective Services and the Jefferson County Attorney's Office in their release, WLKY reported.
Charges and Court Dates
Pohlmann faces several charges of criminal abuse and endangering the welfare of a minor, according to WLKY. Under Kentucky Revised Statute 508.110, second-degree criminal abuse is a Class D felony carrying a potential sentence of one to five years in prison when a custodian wantonly subjects a child under 13 to a situation creating a substantial risk of serious physical injury, according to Kentucky statute. The additional counts of endangering the welfare of a minor fall under Kentucky Revised Statute 530.060, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail and fines up to $500 per count, according to Kentucky law.
Pohlmann entered a not-guilty plea during her Wednesday arraignment, and Jefferson County District Court Judge Mary Jude Wolford set her bond at $20,000 cash ahead of a scheduled September 10 court appearance, according to WDRB. She is being held at the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections. Kentucky Revised Statute 620.030 requires any adult who knows or has reasonable cause to believe a child is abused or neglected to report it immediately to social services or law enforcement, per the Legislative Research Commission, a requirement that underlies the kind of community tip that first brought officers to Fossil Court.
A Broader Pattern of Neglect in Kentucky
The case lands amid troubling statewide numbers. Kentucky's child maltreatment rate of 14.1 victims per 1,000 children is nearly double the national average of 7.2 per 1,000, ranking fifth highest among all U.S. states, according to the federal Child Maltreatment 2024 report cited by Norton Children's. Neglect accounts for more than half of all substantiated child maltreatment cases in Kentucky, with inadequate housing listed as a caregiver risk factor in 5.4% of cases and substance abuse in 38.4%, according to data published by Kentucky Youth Advocates in February.
It remains unclear what steps, if any, Child Protective Services took between the children's April 2025 removal and their March 2026 return to Pohlmann's custody, or how closely the home was monitored after the family court's reunification order. Those questions are likely to surface as Pohlmann's case moves toward her September 10 court date.
