A man in Elkhart has been arrested after police say he left three children home alone for nearly 24 hours.

Police were called, around 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 18, for a welfare check at a home in the 1100 block of Baldwin Street. The children said they’d been alone since around 9 p.m. on Friday.

ABC 57 News reports police describing the home as messy, with overflowing trash and bugs, and a broken front door.

38-year-old Steven Peepers was arrested on preliminary charges of neglect of a dependent and battery against a public safety official.