Fort Myers woman faces child neglect charge after arrest in ‘filthy’ apartment

A Fort Myers woman faces a child neglect charge after officers intervening in a domestic dispute say they found her with a newborn in a “filthy” apartment Wednesday morning.

According to the Fort Myers Police Department, officers were called to an unidentified Fort Myers apartment complex around 6:30 a.m. to intervene in a domestic dispute. Matthew Mangham, 29, claimed his girlfriend, Anika Williams, 25, wouldn’t return the belongings she was taking from him. After seeing to it that Williams returned the belongings, officers went to a nearby substation to fill out paperwork on the incident.

While officers were doing the paperwork, they heard Mangham yelling from the entrance of the apartment complex as Williams drove her silver Hyundai off the street into the grass where several young children were standing, waiting for a school bus. Willaims then drove in front of the parked bus picking up students.

Officers followed Williams to her apartment, where they say she was reluctant to answer the door. The home was reportedly in disarray, with cockroaches, broken glass and dirty diapers on the floor. Williams was naked and holding her newborn baby. Three other children were found in the home, and Williams provided contradictory stories as to whether Mangham was watching them or the eldest child was watching over the others.

Williams got dressed and apologized for her careless driving, saying she was driving because she had a broken heart, but also that she never had a driver’s license. She was booked into the Lee County Jail and faces charges of child neglect without great bodily harm and driving without a license.