By Paula Wethington
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PONTIAC, Michigan (WWJ) — A Pontiac, Michigan, woman accused of abandoning three children for nearly five years will serve up to 30 years in prison.
Kelli Bryant, 35, has already been sentenced to time served plus probation on welfare fraud charges that resulted from the investigation. The plea agreement made in July called for Bryant to serve at least six years in prison on the child neglect circumstances, prosecutors said.
All of the criminal charges were heard through the Sixth Circuit Court in Pontiac. Judge Mary Ellen Brennan issued a sentence on each of the three pending child abuse charges of six to 30 years in prison, with credit for 236 days served. Given the ages of the children involved, the expectation is that all will be adults before their mother is released on parole. They have been living with another relative since Oakland County deputies found them abandoned in the home.
“This sentence holds Kelli Bryant accountable for the horrific neglect of three children,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “Her plea spared the children from testifying at trial and ensures she remains incarcerated until they are all adults. I’m hopeful her victims will continue to have the space and resources to heal from this abhorrent trauma.”
As related by the judge and other officials in the case, the plea agreement was made so that the children would not have to testify in a public trial over the conditions they were left in.
“You failed them,” Brennan said to Bryant before issuing the sentence. “You failed them hour after hour, month after month, and year after year.”
The investigation begins A property owner of a home on Lydia Lane in Pontiac contacted authorities on Feb. 14, 2025, saying that rent had not been paid in months and he was concerned that something might have happened.
When deputies checked on the home, they found mold, garbage and an overflowing toilet. A 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl had been living amid those conditions. None of the children was attending school at the time. Bryant’s fourth child was by this time living with another relative.
The boy told deputies that he and the girls survived on food that their mother or another adult would leave on the front porch every few days.
As the investigation continued, deputies concluded the children were abandoned between the spring and summer of 2020.
The three abandoned children were placed by Child Protective Services into the custody of a relative after the discovery.
“Throughout my extensive career in this field, I have never encountered a scenario as dire and prolonged as this one, involving abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said at the time.
Criminal charges result Kelli Bryant was arraigned a few days later on three counts of first-degree child abuse, with a bond set at $250,000.
“The defendant instructed the kids that they were not to answer the door or leave the house,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “All three children expressed fear about what their mother’s response would be if they left the home. The defendant concealed the children from family and friends and lied about who was caring for the kids and their whereabouts.”
The bond was eventually lowered to $50,000. She was released on bond on June 5, 2025. Bond was revoked on May 1, 2026, after she missed a competency hearing.
Welfare fraud investigation After the child abuse charges were filed, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services filed three counts of welfare fraud. The agency said Bryant had received a $29,397 overpayment by fraud from January 2022 through February 2025.
The Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office responded by seeking to terminate Bryant’s parental rights, and family court officials did so in April 2026.
“The defendant appears to have effectively abandoned her children while collecting their public assistance,” Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said. “This crime is, first and foremost, a theft from Kelli Bryant’s children. These resources were intended to ensure they had the basic necessities denied to them. The children deserved better.”
Bryant pleaded no contest on Dec. 1, 2025, to the three counts of welfare fraud. She was sentenced in June 2026 on that case to 112 days in jail, credit for 112 days served, and two years’ probation, according to Sixth Circuit Court records.
Why weren’t the kids found earlier? Pontiac city leaders have said the home was not properly registered as a rental property. Pontiac City Council President Mike McGuinness says the unit was being unlawfully rented out and, as a result, wasn’t subject to inspections.
Authorities also learned that the children were taken out of school with the message that they would be transferring. But they were never re-enrolled in another district, a gap in the paper trail that Michigan lawmakers attempted to address through Senate Bill 492. The bill passed the Senate and was referred to a House committee.
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