A Florida woman found herself behind bars after deputies served a Child Neglect Warrant and discovered that the woman was locking her 2-year-old child in a closet.
According to investigators, Patricia Ann Childress, was being served on an active warrant from the Fugitive Unit of Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies say, once Childress was in custody, agents conducted a search of the room in an effort to locate the second wanted person and that’s when they found the 2-year-old alone in the closet.
“As if being arrested for having committed child neglect is not bad enough, what our Agents found inside the hotel room was even more disgusting and concerning, as while arresting Childress they discovered that she had locked her 2-year-old child in a closet for hours because she was frustrated with her,” said Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey.
“The closet was completely dark and was barricaded shut from the outside with numerous items that prevented the door from being opened by the child. The two-year-old had dried food on her face and hair and was only wearing a shirt with no pants and a diaper, that was completely soiled with urine and feces. The closet had no lights, no toys, no food, no water, and only contained a pillow and a blanket,” said Ivey.
When confronted about the incident, Childress first tried to tell the Agents the child wanted to be in the closet, but later admitted to locking the child in the closet overnight because she was frustrated with dealing with the child.
Further evidence developed at the scene by an underage witness indicated that the 2-year-old is repeatedly locked in the closet whenever she acts up and that the mom only lets her out if the cops are coming, according to BCSO.
“Childress was arrested by our Agents on the warrant for child neglect and also an additional charge of Aggravated Child Abuse for maliciously punishing her child by locking her in the closet for extended periods of time,” said Ivey.
“Sadly, by law, the bond for the Aggravated Child Abuse charge could only be set at $5,000.00 but thankfully our team arrested the perpetrator and worked with DCF to make certain the children are now in a safe environment,” Ivery added.
“For the life of me, I can’t figure out why our Criminal Justice system allows for such low bonds on such disgusting crimes,” said Ivey.
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