Reports of kids left alone again lead to child endangering charges

MASURY, Ohio (WKBN) – A woman from Masury is facing child endangering charges after police noted in a report that they have dealt with multiple complaints of children being left alone — with the father being arrested earlier this year.

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Brookfield officers were sent to an apartment in the 8100 block of Addison Rd. around 1:40 p.m. Halloween for a report about children screaming.

Officers arrived and didn't see a disturbance but reported that they had dealt with the residents of the home before on complaints of the children being left alone. Police were also given a recording in which children could be heard screaming, sounding like it was coming from the apartment.

While checking the area, an officer reported seeing a child around the age of 2 or 3 near the kitchen sink. Another child was seen looking out an upstairs window, according to a police report.

Maintenance for the Trumbull Metropolitan Housing Authority (TMHA) — which owns the building — entered the apartment, and seven children, ranging from ages 2 to 10, were found inside the apartment. The children said the oldest child was watching them.

Trumbull County Sheriff's deputies were also on the scene.

Investigators from each agency noted in their reports that the home was in deplorable condition, with rotten food in the sink, raw meat on a table and feces smeared on a wall. Police added that they found an antihistamine pill on the floor of a bedroom and other such pills lying in the bathroom.

While there, a woman — 29-year-old Brianna Daye — arrived and told police that she had a babysitter but that the babysitter must have left without telling her, according to the report. An officer then asked Daye to show them video from surveillance cameras that were near the apartment showing them when the babysitter left, but she said the cameras weren't working, the report stated, and she would not provide any information on the person who she said was supposed to be watching the children.

Police said two of the children in the home were Daye's children, and the other five belonged to a family member. According to a Trumbull County Sheriff's report, Mahoning County Children Services had approved the placement of the five children with Daye, and they had been living with her for three weeks.

Children Services removed the children from the home, and Daye was taken into custody on seven counts of child endangering charges.

A police report from earlier this year shows that charges were filed against the father of some of the children after officers were called to the same apartment in March for a report that a child without shoes was running through the parking lot of the apartment complex alone. Police said the father, Jerami Wells, told police that he left the 2-year-old and 5-year-old children home alone for 5 to 10 minutes while he walked to a drive-thru nearby.

Wells was sentenced to three years of probation in September after pleading guilty to a fourth-degree felony child-endangering.

Daye pleaded not guilty to the charges in Trumbull Eastern District Court on Tuesday. Bond was set with the condition that she cooperate with Trumbull County Children Services and not have contact with the children without approval from the agency.

A pretrial in the case is set for January 5, according to court records.