PONTIAC (WXYZ) — Living amongst the filth and rot of a Pontiac home, deputies found Teriomas Johnson's three small children.
There was no food or running water. Instead of a working toilet, the children used a cardboard box.
Watch Ross Jones' video report below:
Their mother, prosecutors said, often lived somewhere else.
“What you did is you said, ‘I don’t care about these kids,’” Oakland County Judge Yasmine Poles said at a sentencing hearing Tuesday.
“They can miss a meal, they can live there with feces and dirt and a disgusting situation without a place to sleep,” the judge said, her voice raised. “And you call yourself a mother?”
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Johnson was no stranger to Children's Protective Services. Four times before, she had been accused of neglecting her children or placing them at an unreasonable risk. Each time, the cases would be closed, deemed to be a low or moderate risk.
Tuesday in a Pontiac courtroom, Johnson was sentenced to 129 months to 20 years in prison after pleading no contest to second-degree child abuse. This is the story of how it got this far.
Previous coverage: Pontiac mom arrested, allegedly abandoned 3 kids in apartment without plumbing, littered with feces
‘Clear exploitation’
The first complaint naming Johnson would come in December of 2022, accused of physical neglect and improper supervision of her children. There are no details outlining the allegations or what CPS found, but the case was deemed a category 4: there was insufficient evidence.
Seven months later, CPS would receive another complaint that again alleged physical neglect and improper supervisor. Again, the case was closed for insufficient evidence.
In January of 2024, police records show that Johnson would be accused of stealing from a beauty supply store in Farmington Hills with her children by her side.
When staff confronted Johnson, surveillance video shows that she began to fight them. After storming out of the business, she could be seen striking an employee who tried to stop her, later using some of the stolen merchandise as a weapon.
In a call to 911, a store employee could be heard screaming: “She’s beating us! She’s hurting us!”
As Johnson was about to drive away, another employee is seen taking a picture of her license plate. That’s when the mother gets out of her car and can be seen attacking the employee. One of her daughters can be seen pulling her away.
Then, as it appears Johnson is about to leave the scene, police say she makes “an obvious attempt to strike” one of the employees with her car, hitting a Ford Fusion instead. At that point, she leaves.
“It’s clear exploitation,” said Nancy Keller, who spent 35 years in child welfare as a CPS specialist, supervisor and manager. She reviewed records obtained by 7 News Detroit detailing Johnson’s criminal and CPS history.
“The mom is involved in criminality, she’s exposing the children to that,” Keller said. “The older child, she’s trying to like act as the mother.”
It is not clear from police records if CPS ever knew of the robbery at the beauty shop. Just three days later, Johnson would be involved in another alleged theft at a Meijer in Rochester Hills — with her children again at her side.
High-speed chase
Surveillance video shows her entering the store with an empty cart, and later leaving with what police said was $3,700 worth of stolen goods. Just behind her, store video shows, are her daughters who filled carts of their own.
After being confronted by a store employee, Johnson pushes through the vestibule, unloads her cart and — along with her children — drives away in her vehicle.
This time, police made the scene quickly and turned on their lights and sirens. Johnson did not stop. Instead, she began to lead the deputies on a high-speed chase after 9 p.m. on a dark January night while her children sat in the backseat.
In the dark and snow, she traveled as fast as 80 mph on streets where the speed limit was half that. As multiple officers pursued her, Johnson turned off her headlights.
Police dash cam video showed Johnson would get on and off the freeway repeatedly. Eventually, the dangerous road conditions led deputies to call off the pursuit.
Johnson would eventually be charged, pleading guilty to retail fraud, child abuse in the fourth degree and fleeing from police. CPS investigated the case, labeling it a category 3, meaning the evidence of future harm is moderate or low.
“She led deputies on a high-speed police chase through the snow with two kids in the back seat,” said Channel 7’s Ross Jones. “Would you ever consider that low risk?”
“No,” Keller said, “but my concern is there’s so much pressure on these investigators, do they even have that information?”
According to police records, Johnson’s children would be placed with relatives following her arrest over the theft and police chase; it’s not clear for how long. She would spend 12 days in jail, and was later “referred to parent education classes” that spring.
“In my heart of hearts, do I believe a parenting class is going to correct that behavior? Absolutely not,” Keller said. “I’m a licensed clinical social worker… what is causing this behavior that you would put your children at that degree of risk?"
Four months after the third CPS complaint, Johnson would be the subject of her fourth. This one, filed in Macomb County, accused her of placing two of her kids “at unreasonable risk.” No details were provided in police documents, and the complaint was categorized as low risk.
The next time she’d be on CPS’s radar was in November, when deputies found her children living in squalor.
Days after Johnson was arrested, the father of one of her children told 7 News Detroit that warnings were clear: it didn’t need to come to this.
“Take these situations much more seriously, especially when this happens more than once,” Julian Gary said. “This is like the fifth CPS case.”
Previous coverage: Father speaks out after getting custody of daughter found living in horrific conditions
Police acknowledge error
At least one police department who interacted with Johnson over the years says they dropped the ball by not alerting CPS to Johnson’s dangerous behavior.
The January 2024 alleged robbery in Farmington Hills — where Johnson was seen leaving with store items she did not purchase, fighting with staff and narrowly missing a woman with her car before she drove away — led to an investigation by a department detective.
“They advised that they did not believe the children were being physically abuse or neglected, so CPS was not notified,” Chief John Piggot told 7 New Detroit. “I disagree with this assessment. We will be providing additional training on the matter to our staff.”
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees CPS, did not respond to an email seeking comment for this story.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
