Background: Doddridge County Early Learning Academy in West Union, W.Va. (Google Maps). Insets (left to right): Dwayne and Dorothy Hickman (Doddridge County Sheriff”s Office).
The parents of two West Virginia children are behind bars after police said they sent the children to school with cockroaches in one of their backpacks.
Dwayne Hickman, 37, and Dorothy Hickman, 29, were each charged with two counts of gross child neglect after police said they were contacted on Feb. 10 by the elementary school the Hickmans’ children attended. According to a criminal complaint obtained by local ABC affiliate WBOY, a staff member at the Doddridge County Early Learning Academy in West Union, a town around 30 miles west of the state’s border with Ohio, became concerned about the well-being of the Hickmans’ two children after finding cockroaches in one of their backpacks.
Police said the staff members noticed bug bites on the “face, hands, and bottom” of the Hickmans’ son.
Local CBS affiliate WDTV reported that according to police, the Hickmans’ daughter asked her teacher if she could wash her clothes for her, saying they were “very dirty.”
Deputies from the Doddridge County Sheriff’s Office referred the Hickmans’ case to Child Protective Services (CPS), which sent a representative to inspect the family home. After a CPS employee notified police about the “extreme deplorable living conditions” at the Hickmans’ home, both children were removed from the parents’ custody and are now in the care of CPS.
Dwayne Hickman and Dorothy Hickman were each charged with two counts of gross neglect of a child creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury and arrested on Feb. 12. During their first court appearance, they both pleaded not guilty. A judge set their bail at $20,000.
Both Hickmans are still in custody at the North Central Regional Jail. They are scheduled for preliminary hearings on Feb. 18.
