Woman Sentenced to Jail for Filthy House

Link : http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041106/ap_on_fe_st/littered_house&e=3

OMAHA, Neb. - After ignoring six years of prodding from the city, a woman is going to jail for having a filthy house. A Douglas County judge Thursday sentenced Rosie Fellman to 45 days behind bars for littering, with breaks every 10 days to clean up her central Omaha home.



Trash and debris has been piled up to 5 feet deep in the house and garage, which are a health and fire hazard, the city's chief housing inspector Kevin Denker said.


Last month, inspectors found more than 100 garbage cans in the driveway.


City Prosecutor Marty Conboy said the city has spent six years trying to get Fellman to clean up. There was not much else the judge could do, Conboy said.


At the end of Fellman's sentence, the judge will decide if she has improved the home's condition. If not, she could be sentenced to another 45 days in jail.


The city has ordered the home demolished, but Fellman, who lives alone, is appealing the order.


"If she doesn't clean it out we'll just tear down everything," Denker said.