Police Find Baby Living In Filthy Conditions In Aliquippa Apartment
ALIQUIPPA (KDKA) -- Aliquippa police say they found more than they bargained for on a child welfare call at the Valley View Apartments this week.
"Filth everywhere on the floor, clothes strewn everywhere; there was dirty, moldy dishes in the sink," says Capt. Douglas Edgell. "It was just really bad, you know, even bad for the adults. I don't know how they could live like that."
Child welfare workers tried for an hour to get an adult to open the door.
Police got a pass key and found a 1-year-old boy living in deplorable conditions. The only food police found was an open bag of chips and salsa. They also found steak knives easily within reach of the baby.
Once they got in, they say they first found the baby's biological father, 21-year-old Demetrius Bracken, coming from upstairs. He lives at another address.
But police were still looking for the baby's mother, 19-year-old Chelsea Lawson, who had texted CYS workers that she was at a doctor's appointment in Beaver.
"The CYS workers said that they were receiving texts from her," says Capt. Edgell. "And at the time we got in, the texts mysteriously stopped. While we were looking for clothes for the baby, because CYS said let the baby go with relatives, I went up and checked the closet and she was hiding in the closet."
Her phone was in her hand, say police.
The suspects now face charges including endangering the welfare of a child, and are expected in court next week.
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