HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — After the parents of seven children were charged with child abuse and neglect, a relative publicly chastised the couple.
“It makes me want to cry because my sister and I weren’t raised in filthy conditions like that,” Rebekah Gray, sister, said as she wiped away tears. Gray’s sister, Tammie Gregerson, and Gregerson’s husband, Brian, were charged with endangering the welfare of their seven children on Sept. 9.
“I’m not at all surprised that they were charged,” Gray said. “I’m glad that they were finally caught.”
The children range from three to 12 years old. On Monday a school official contacted police after not seeing the kids in school for more than a week. When an officer went to the Harrisonville motel where the family had been staying, he says he found the children alone, living in a dirty room with three cats that had urinated on the carpet. Police documents stated that trash littered the floor and the bed sheets appeared to have been soiled. A small amount of food was found in a refrigerator.
The Gregersons told police they left their children alone because they were moving items to their new home in Kansas City, Mo.
“It’s just not uncommon for them,” Gray said. “For years they would eat first and then feed their children what’s left. They neglected those kids and left them alone like it was nothing at all, like it was okay.”
The Gregersons pleaded not guilty in court Thursday. Tammie Gregerson rushed out of the Cass County courthouse to a waiting truck.
“No comment. Please, leave me alone. I’m not talking because all the media does is twists everything,” Tammie Gregerson said as she hopped into the vehicle.
The couple are expected to appear in court on October 24. Their seven children remain in state custody.
“I will be wiling to go on the stand and testify,” Gray said. “If I had to make sure these kids got good homes and not be returned to their parents.”
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