OHIO — Three people are facing charges after a 4-year-old child was found wandering alone outside a home in Masury on Wednesday morning, according to Brookfield police.
Officers were called around 8:11 a.m. to First Street after a neighbor reported finding the child outside. Police attempted to contact someone at the home where the child was believed to live but were unable to reach anyone for more than an hour.
According to a police report, 69-year-old Nancy Dickson eventually answered the door and told officers she had been sleeping and was unaware the child had left the home. Dickson told police she lives there with her son and cares for the child while the parents are at work.
Dickson allowed officers inside the house, where police reported finding “deplorable conditions.” Two other children were discovered sleeping in what officers described as the only relatively usable bedroom.
When officers asked about food in the home, Dickson pointed to several boxes that were stacked out of the children’s reach and covered by other boxes. Police also learned that four additional children, ages 5 to 10, live in the home but were at school at the time.
Officers reported finding two dogs confined to a room with food but no water, noting it appeared the animals had not left the room for some time.
Representatives from the Trumbull County Children Services Board responded to the home and observed that at least two of the children had full diapers that had not been changed for an extended period, according to the report.
Authorities removed the children from the home, and the four children who were at school were later picked up by Children Services. Animal Welfare officials also removed the dogs.
Dickson was arrested and booked into the Trumbull County Jail on multiple counts of child endangering.
