Mother arrested after Indiana police claim her kids were left alone without heat
CHICAGO (CBS) – Police in Lake County, Indiana said they found two young children alone inside an apartment without heat for several hours while their mother was at work, but there are conflicting stories about exactly what happened.
CBS 2's Sara Machi went to speak with people who were there to get the story.
Late Monday afternoon, officers with the Lake County Sheriff's Department Special Victims Unit responded to the Tiberon Trails apartment complex in the 1200 block of West 52nd Drive in Merrillville for a report of two children left alone in an apartment, according to a news release.
Officers arrived to find a 5-year-old and 6-year-old alone without functioning heat from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Their mother had gone to work at a local grocery store.
But the apartment staff said that's not true.
A maintenance employee was able to get into the apartment to repair the heat and discovered the only food the children had was ice cream and Pepsi.
The children were wearing coats, but were still shivering in the cold apartment, police said. Their mother, 44, was arrested pending criminal charges of neglect of a dependent.
But CBS 2 spoke with people at the property management office and they contradicted the police narrative. While they couldn't give CBS 2 much information on camera, they said the unit had heat and they were expecting corrected information from the sheriff's department.
The children have been taken in by different family members.
Police said the Indiana Department of Child Services is investigating.
CBS 2 reached out to the sheriff's department to find out the mother's name and what response they had to the apartment workers contradicting their information. The sheriff's office said it stands by its initial report. The information was based on surveillance video and witness statements.
