Roach, rodent infestation reported in Charles County mall food court

WALDORF, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - FOX 5 has learned that the entire food court in the St. Charles Towne Center in Waldorf has several uninvited guests.

"I've seen a roach," Donte Powell told FOX 5 Wednesday.

Powell says he's seen roaches everywhere in the food court -- lots of them.

"There used to be a cookie place down there, I've seen a roach like run across their cookies before. And then there used to be a wing place right here and I've seen a roach come from underneath their register. Over there, I've seen roaches at the Popeyes. I've seen roaches over there," said Powell.

In fact, while we were walking through the food court, we managed to see a roach by the register of the Asian Chao Oriental Eatery -- just feet away from the food.

"Once you see roaches in one place, in a place like this, they are in the whole place," said Powell.

FOX 5 has obtained a copy of a health inspection performed on the Sbarro located in the food court on January 15, 2019.

According to the report, an inspector found "evidence of rodent infestation" inside the restaurant. It goes on to say, "followed trail of rodent excrement and noticed large hole below pizza oven that may be point of entry" as well as "mouse droppings are now also present in counter bottom along with roaches."

The report says the issue needed to be taken care of by January, but the problem appears to persist.

FOX 5 spoke with an employee at the Sbarro who didn't want to appear on camera. They say roaches are still an issue inside the food court. They also told us that they've tried to close the restaurant in order to take care of the bug problem, but the workers says the mall has yet to solve the issue.

On Wednesday evening, we tried contacting the owners of the mall, Simon, for a response but they haven't responded back yet.

FOX 5 also tried to speak with the Charles County Department of Health on multiple occasions about the rodent issue, and they told us that any complaint should be directed to them, however, they didn't comment on a possible solution to the issues inside.