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Kelli Bryant (Sheriff's photo)
The 34-year-old Pontiac mom who made headlines earlier this year when authorities discovered she left her three children to live on their own for years in a house of squalor, pleaded no contest Monday to three counts of welfare fraud in Oakland County Circuit Court.
A no contest plea means she did not admit guilt but agreed to accept the punishment as if she had.
Meanwhile, Bryant still faces trial on three counts of first-degree child abuse. In February, when announcing those charges, the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office said the case involved her three children — two girls, ages 12 and 13, and a 15-year-old boy.
“The resolution of the welfare fraud charges in no way impacts the case against Kelli Bryant on the more serious allegations of child abuse,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a press release. “We fully intend to hold her accountable for the abuse these children suffered because of her alleged neglect.”
A pretrial hearing is set for Jan. 28 on the child abuse charges.
In February when McDonald announced the child abuse charges, she said:
"It was unbelieveble what they were living in."
"The daughters were hiding in a bathroom that was filled with feces, piles of trash and completely non-functional, while her son was hiding in another room. Police were astonished to find anyone in the location because it appeared to be uninhabitable with piles of garbage and refuse several feet high, including large amounts of human excrement."
The son told authorities that he would text the mother when they were out of food. She provided no toilet paper or soap.
The mother concealed from friends and family any information about the children or who was caring for them, McDonald said.
