Main: The Indiana home where the defendants allegedly left their children unattended (Google Maps). Inset: The KFC where the defendants went after allegedly leaving their kids (Google Maps).
Two women in Indiana are accused of leaving their children home alone, including allegedly leaving a 2-year-old girl outside, where she was repeatedly stung by bees while the women went to KFC.
Jocelyn Chandler, 30, and Katrina Garrett, 32, were arrested and preliminarily charged with five counts each of neglect of a dependent and two counts each of marijuana possession, court records show.
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According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, officers with the Muncie Police Department responded to a residence in the 1900 block of East Highland Ave. shortly after 5 p.m. Friday for a welfare check after a caller reported seeing “a baby was outside by herself with a full diaper, screaming, and appeared to have been stung by bees.”
When officers arrived, they found five children at the home and no adults present. The oldest child, who was 11, told police they had been left without adult supervision, which he claimed happened regularly. Emergency medical personnel responded after officers observed that the toddler had “injuries consistent with bee stings on her backside.”
Two of the older children told police their parents had left to pick up a babysitter who lived far away. When officers asked them to call their mother, one child had a cellphone but it had no service.
Chandler and Garrett eventually arrived and identified themselves as the mothers of the children. Garrett told police they had left the children alone for approximately 45 minutes to an hour while they went to pick up a babysitter.
Garrett said the women stopped at an ATM after picking up the babysitter and realized they did not have enough money to take the oldest children to get their nails done. They dropped the babysitter off before going to a KFC on South Madison Street to get food, according to the report.
The affidavit describes Garrett’s account this way:
Katrina stated that she left the children by themselves for approximately 45 minutes to one hour. Katrina stated that she and Jocelyn went to Meadowview Gardens Mobile Home to pick up a babysitter, as she was going to take the oldest children to get their nails done. Katrina stated that she then went to the ATM at the gas station at Wysor and Madison to withdraw money and realized that she did not have enough money to get the children’s nails done. Katrina stated that she then went to drop the babysitter back off at Meadowview Gardens, Katrina stated that they then went to the KFC on S Madison to get food for themselves and returned home.
Garrett acknowledged that she should have left Chandler at home and agreed that the two older children were not capable of caring for a 2-year-old, the affidavit says. She also apparently admitted the marijuana found inside the home belonged to her and said leaving the children unsupervised was a “terrible decision.”
Garrett also told police that both she and one of her children have autism. Chandler similarly acknowledged that someone should have stayed with the children and said there was an active Department of Child Services (DCS) case involving her children, according to the affidavit.
Chandler claimed the children had been left alone for roughly 45 minutes to an hour, the affidavit says. Like Garrett, Chandler also allegedly admitted that leaving them unsupervised was the wrong decision and that the marijuana belonged to her, according to the report.
The officer who searched the home after Garrett consented described its condition in stark terms:
I conducted a walkthrough of the residence and observed the home to be in a deplorable condition. There was heavy clutter in the living room, unsecured knives left on a table within reach of the children, and a green substance on the table that emitted an odor consistent with raw marijuana and was within reach of the children. I also observed items associated with drug use, including a “grinder” containing a green substance, within reach of the children.
Police also said they found open diapers containing feces accessible to the children, a litter box that had not been cleaned for an extended period, and other conditions that allegedly “exposed the children to biological hazardous materials and illicit drugs.”
A social worker assisted with the children’s care while the women were in custody, and DCS later took custody of the children.
Garrett and Chandler were both booked into the Delaware County Jail on $11,000 bond, Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN reported. Neither defendant appeared on the jail roster as of Monday afternoon. It was not immediately clear when they were scheduled to appear in court.
The post Toddler found alone, ‘screaming’ and covered in bee stings while moms were at KFC: Police first appeared on Law & Crime.
