PONTIAC, Mich. – Kelli Bryant was sentenced to six to 30 years in prison Tuesday for First-Degree Child Abuse. Bryant pleaded no contest as charged in July.

 

Bryant, a 35-year-old Pontiac resident, effectively abandoned her three children in a squalid apartment without running water or functioning toilets. For several years, the children lived alone and did not go outside or attend school. Bryant would periodically drop off food at their doorstep. The children were discovered by Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies performing a welfare check in February 2025.

 

“This sentence holds Kelli Bryant accountable for the horrific neglect of three children,” said Prosecutor McDonald. “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.”

 

Bryant previously pleaded as charged to three counts of Welfare Fraud in December and was sentenced to two years of probation for those offenses. Her parental rights were terminated in family court in April.

 

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