Court records describe allegations of prolonged confinement, missed schooling and unmet medical needs on a Miami-to-Atlanta trucking route. The charges are accusations, and the case remains pending.
A Florida couple allegedly held four children in a tractor-trailer cab for nearly six years, according to arrest and court records. Keisha Epps and Tamra Marshon Stewart face child-neglect charges after investigators said the children were confined for much of their time in the truck, which traveled between Miami and Atlanta.
The alleged confinement lasted from December 2019 into 2026, with the children reportedly missing school for about five years. The couple faces four child-neglect counts each—one count connected to each child—turning a disturbing account of life on the road into a criminal case that will depend on evidence, testimony and court proceedings.
Charges follow a child-welfare inquiry
Epps, 51, and Stewart, 37, were arrested Aug. 6, according to a heavily redacted Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office report filed with the court. Authorities have withheld identifying information about the children, including their ages, sexes and relationship to the defendants.
The redactions are significant. They limit what can responsibly be concluded beyond the allegations in the documents, while also protecting children whose accounts may become central evidence in a future prosecution.
Investigators alleged the children lived with the couple in the tractor-trailer cab while Epps worked as a truck driver. The reported route ran between Miami and Atlanta, meaning the central question is not simply where the family stayed, but whether the adults provided the essentials children require while living in that confined setting.
Records describe life inside the cab
According to the arrest report, the four children said they spent the majority of their days inside the vehicle. They told interviewers at a child advocacy center that they were not allowed to attend school for approximately five years.
The records also allege they lacked regular opportunities to shower, use a restroom and exercise outdoors. All four children reportedly shared one bunk and had to sleep curled up beside one another because they could not fit otherwise.
A detective wrote that the children walked with what was described as an unnatural gait linked to their alleged confinement in the cab. That is an investigative observation, not a medical finding described in the available records, but it illustrates why authorities are framing the allegations as more than unconventional housing.
The distinction matters legally and morally. Families can face housing instability for many reasons; prosecutors, however, are alleging a sustained failure to meet basic needs rather than merely a temporary or improvised living arrangement.
Schooling and medical care are key
The reported lack of education and health care may be among the clearest issues for investigators to document. The children allegedly told interviewers that they had not been in school for years, and the court records say they did not receive medical or dental care, including in emergencies.
One child described suffering a serious burn from cooked noodles and said no medical treatment was sought. Court records say the child was left with a permanent scar. Another child was found to have an untreated sexually transmitted infection, according to the report.
The documents contain additional allegations of sexual abuse and physical violence involving Stewart. Those allegations are especially serious, but the publicly available account does not provide a full factual record or identify the alleged victim. Court documents indicate that capital sexual battery charges against Stewart are expected to be filed by the Statewide Prosecutor in the 9th Judicial District.
Those prospective charges are separate from the child-neglect counts now reported. An allegation in an arrest report is not a conviction, and any new charge would require its own formal filing and legal process.
What Florida’s neglect case requires
Each defendant faces four counts of child neglect, described in the records as third-degree felonies. The report says investigators concluded the adults willfully failed to provide care, supervision and services necessary for the children’s physical and mental health.
Florida’s child-neglect framework focuses on whether a caregiver failed to provide necessities that a prudent person would view as essential, including food, shelter, supervision, medical services and related care. In this case, prosecutors would need to connect the alleged conditions in the truck to that legal standard for each child and each count.
That burden may involve testimony from the children, interviews conducted at the advocacy center, travel and employment records, medical assessments, school-enrollment information and evidence about the cab’s conditions. The defense, in turn, can challenge the reliability, context and legal interpretation of that evidence.
Reports say each third-degree felony count can carry up to five years in prison, up to five years of probation and a fine of up to $5,000. Sentencing exposure, if there are convictions, would depend on the charges sustained, the facts proven and decisions by the court.
What remains unresolved in court
Epps was being held in the Duval County Jail on bond set at $400,012, while Stewart was held without bond, according to the records cited in the report. The available material does not include a detailed response from either defendant or their attorneys to the allegations.
The next important developments will be formal charging decisions, court hearings and any public filings that clarify the evidence. It is also unclear from the redacted documents how authorities first learned of the children’s situation, what child-protection interventions are now in place, or whether additional defendants could be investigated.
For now, the case presents allegations of extended confinement in an unusually small space alongside claims of educational, medical and supervisory failures. The criminal charges ensure those claims will be tested in court, where the state must prove them beyond a reasonable doubt.
The larger concern behind the case
The allegations underscore a hard-to-see form of potential child endangerment: circumstances that can remain hidden when a family is constantly moving. A truck cab traveling across state lines can make routine contact with teachers, doctors, neighbors and other mandated reporters far less likely.
That does not mean trucking families or mobile households are inherently unsafe. The issue alleged here is the prolonged denial of care, schooling, medical attention and safe living conditions—not travel itself.
As the case moves forward, the most consequential questions will remain factual: how the children lived, what access they had to ordinary care and services, what each adult knew, and whether the conduct meets Florida’s definition of criminal neglect.
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