Mother To Face Charges After Girl Wanders From Home
McKEESPORT (KDKA) -- A 3-year-old girl is in protective custody and her mother could soon be facing charges after the child wandered away from her home in McKeesport.
According to McKeesport police, 23-year-old Ashley Warman will likely face child endangerment charges along with other counts. The little girl and a sibling are in the custody of CYF.
For the second time in less than a week, authorities say the 3-year-old girl wandered away from her home.
Surveillance cameras at the Sunoco on busy Lyle Boulevard show the girl walking into the convenience store. It shows her looking at some candy as employees realize she's all by herself.
They called police and shortly afterward officers arrived. Paramedics loaded the toddler into an ambulance and she was taken her to Children's Hospital.
Police say she had some bruises on her body and was wearing soiled pajamas.
James Holmes, Warman's ex-boyfriend, is the biological father of her 2-year-old boy and considers the little girl along with Warman's 7-year-old daughter, his step-children, though not legally.
"I proceeded down here, and I came down and 'Hey, you hear Ashely got arrested this morning?' Then, I got a phone call half hour later. The kids are taken," said Holmes. "They're gone. No clue what to do."
Police say they were living in a filthy apartment. A bathtub overflowing with dirty water, doors and walls busted, rotting food on the floor.
"I heard a lot about it today. I heard kids rushed outside into the ambulance and everything," added Whitney Green, a neighbor. "That's just sad, people not paying attention to their kids."
Police will do more interviews with the children. They expect Warman to go before a magistrate on Monday.
"Monday I'm [going to] meet with a lawyer, and Friday when the case comes around, I'm going down there with a lawyer, be lawyered-up and ready to go get my babies," said Holmes.
The little girl and her 2-year-old brother were checked out by doctors at Children's Hospital and are said to be doing fine.
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McKeesport
Allegheny County Department of Human Services
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