VALLE-VEGA Children - Merced CA

A mother and father were arrested Monday after a Merced County
sheriff's deputy found their three children unsupervised in a Merced
apartment.Deputy Jose Sanchez visited the apartment in the 7000
block of Winton Way and found three girls, ages 4, 6 and 8, by
themselves. The house was in "complete disarray," with clothes and dog
feces all over the floor, the Sheriff's Department said in a news
release. The deputy also found three small dogs covered in lice and
open sores.The girls told Sanchez that they had not seen their mother since Saturday and their father since early that morning.

The mother, Ambrosia Valle, 29,
of Winton, arrived home while deputies were there. She said she was out
of town with a friend and that the children were supposed to be
supervised by the father.The
father, Nepamuseno Vega, 36, was staying at his sister's apartment in
the same complex. He admitted that he was supposed to be watching the
girls and said he didn't realize that they had returned to their
mother's apartment after going outside to play. The parents
were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and neglect, and
animal cruelty. Valle and Vega remain in jail on $55,000 bail.It was the sixth time Sanchez had visited the home since August, the Sheriff's Department said. The children were taken into custody by Child Protective Services, and animal control officers took the dogs.