A Crothersville man and woman each face three Level 6 felony charges of neglect after they left their young children unattended at home for more than an hour, police said.
Brandon M. Nease, 33, and Keisha Cheyenne Jackson, 26, were arrested and booked into the Jackson County Jail in Brownstown following an incident reported Tuesday evening to Crothersville police.
The incident that led to their arrest started when a 7-year-old child walked to a residence in the 600 block of East Bard Street, according to a probable cause affidavit signed by Chief Matt Browning.
The child was upset and told a woman they were looking for their sibling, who had gone to the local Dollar General Store to look for their parents.
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Browning saw a 6-year-old child riding a bicycle nearby as he was responding to the call. The child turned out to be the sibling the other was trying to find.
Officers asked the children if their parents were home, and each told them Nease and Jackson were not at their home nearby.
Browning wrote in court documents that he went to the family’s home and found a baby crying with a soiled diaper on a bedroom floor.
Assistant Chief Chris Cooper responded to the call and kept the children while Browning tried to find Nease and Jackson. A representative from the Department of Child Services also responded to the incident, according to court documents.
Nease and Jackson were later found driving their 2007 blue Chevrolet HHR in the northbound lanes of U.S. 31. Browning told them to return to their residence, where they were interviewed.
During an interview with police, Nease and Jackson said they had left to go to Dollar General Store, Town Market Foodies and a gas station when they lost track of time.
When police told them they found one of the children riding the bicycle unattended, they had no response, according to court documents. They also did not respond when Browning asked the couple if they thought it was a good idea to leave children unattended, according to court documents.
Nease was booked into the Jackson County Jail at 9:05 p.m. Tuesday without bond. Jackson was booked in at 9:08 p.m.
A Level 6 felony is punishable between six months and two and a half years upon conviction.