An eastern Kentucky woman has been charged with endangering the welfare of a minor after she allegedly left her 2- and 4-year-old child alone for several hours while she went drinking.
Pikeville Police said they were called to an apartment just after 9 p.m. on Monday for a report of a domestic incident in progress, but when they arrived, they found only the two children inside.
According to a police report, the children did not know where their mother was. An officer spoke with the neighbor across the hall, who told them that the mother, later identified as 23-year-old Morgan Chapman, had asked her to watch the children at about 5 p.m. so she could “go smoke.”
The officer wrote in the report that “go smoke” is a common euphemism for smoking marijuana in eastern Kentucky.
Morgan Chapman Affidavit by kc wildmoon
While officers were still on the scene, Chapman returned home. An officer wrote in the report that he noticed “Chapman to have a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from her person, blood shot glassy eyes, and thick slurred speech.” She told the officers that she’d only left the children alone for a “couple minutes” while she went to a neighbor’s home.
Chapman was arrested and transported to jail, while the children were brought to police headquarters and the Department of Protection and Permanency contacted.
No mention was made of what happened to the children after that.
Chapman posed for her mugshot after she was charged with her misdemeanor. She is not currently listed in jail records.
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[Featured image: Morgan Chapman/Pike County Detention Center]
