A 52 year-old Wisconsin woman has been arrested and charged with child neglect after a two-year-old toddler was found unkempt and unfed in a Kenosha County apartment, Fox News reports.
According to court documents, police from the Kenosha Police Department found 52-year-old Miss Johnson “intoxicated” upon entering her apartment for a welfare check. Johnson was found “not capable” of caring for the toddler, police said.
Authorities observed the toddler saying “water, water” to an apathetic Johnson who then told police to “get out now.”
However, police demanded water to be given to the child.
A crisis worker was then summoned to assess the toddler’s health. It was revealed that the toddler hadn’t eaten for 12-24 hours and had “diaper rash” from a diaper that had been left unchanged for at least two days.
Upon being questioned by police, Johnson could not specify whether the diaper was changed and when the toddler last ate.
Neighbor Evelyn Harper said: “To think that somebody lived that close to you, that would do something like that to a child, I cannot even fathom that.”
According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (pdf), 49 states reported 1,700 fatalities resulting from child abuse and neglect in 2016. Nationally, an estimated 1,750 children died in 2016from abuse and neglect.
Johnson is due to appear in court on June 28.
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