3 Charged in Child Cruelty Case

Three people face child cruelty charges after twin babies were found severely malnourished in Clayton County. Police said one of the suspects works in special education for a local school board.

Clayton County Police Chief Jeff Turner said that in his 21 years of law enforcement, this is the worst case of child abuse and neglect that he has ever seen.

Police arrested the people they said are responsible for the appearance of the twin 13-month-old babies. James Alvin McCart III, 23, is the father; Tessa Zelek, 23, is the mother of the children. Also charged is the maternal grandmother, Christi Zelek, 51.

One of the toddlers only weighed eight pounds, the other, only nine pounds. The grandmother is employed by the Henry County Board of Education as a Special Education Coordinator. Police said she went to her daughter's home last week and found her daughter and her boyfriend passed out. The babies were in another room.

She apparently called relatives to come and take the kids away so that they would not be seen by DFCS officials, and then she called authorities.

"Just to know that she works for the school system," said Turner. "And to know that she is mandated by law to report incidents of child abuse, and her failure to do so, especially with a crime this heinous, and with those children abused to that extent, is very disheartening, and almost makes you lose faith in mankind."

Police said when they took the parents into custody, the father tested positive for cocaine, the mother refused a drug test. However, police found other drugs within the home. All three -- the parents and the grandmother -- made a first appearance in court Friday morning. Bond was set for all three, but they remained in the Clayton County Jail Friday night.

Turner said the children are presently in Egleston Children's Hospital, and had they been taken to the hospital any later than they were, they would not be alive.