POLICE: Children found in vacant Louisville home that was 'unfit for living,' with sex offender

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Police say two men were arrested after two small children were found in a dilapidated vacant home with a sex offender.

According to court documents, the incident took place on March 30, just before 5:30 p.m. in Louisville's California neighborhood.

Police say they were called to an abandoned house on Osage Avenue, near Dr. W.J. Hodge Street, after someone reported seeing two men take two very small children into the home. When they arrived, they found a boarded up house. Inside the home was 35-year-old Randy Fortier, 37-year-old Linzy Harris, and two small children: a 1-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl.

According to the online Kentucky Sex Offender Registry, Fortier is a registered sex offender who was convicted in Florida in 2014 of "Lewd Or Lascivious Exhibition, Victim Under 16, Offender 18 or Older." He told police he had been living in the boarded up, vacant home, but police say he was trespassing and his living there instead of his listed address was a violation of the sex offender registry.

Police say the two children were both dirty and hungry, and the 1-year-old was in need of a diaper change.

"The residence was also unfit for living, with no running water, no electricity and exposed nails protruding from the floor," the arrest report states.

When confronted about the children, police say Harris changed his story several times about whose children they were.

According to an arrest report, Fortier has been charged in the past with indecent exposure, and a neighbor allegedly told police she saw him committing a sex act outside the house the previous week.

Police say Fortier had no business being around children and had not contacted authorities to report a change of address.

He was arrested and charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, giving an officer false identifying information, failure to comply with the sex offender registration and making false statements to law enforcement regarding non-compliance with the sex offender registration.

Harris was also arrested. He is charged with third-degree criminal trespassing, endangering the welfare of a minor and first-degree wanton endangerment.

Both men were booked into Louisville Metro Corrections.

WDRB is working to obtain more information on this case. This story will be updated.