A Nappanee woman is being charged with neglect of a dependent, a level 6 felony, following multiple incidents from October 7 through April 5.
Casey Nicole Thornton, 22, of 209 Stonewall Ct., Nappanee, was arrested this morning.
On Oct. 4, a Nappanee Police officer responded to a small child running down the road in the area of Stonewall Court Apartments, according to a probable cause affidavit filed by the Kosciusko County Prosecutor’s Office. Officers spoke with a resident who said she observed the young child running down the road without supervision and she asked the child to show her where he lived. They knocked for several minutes before Thornton opened the door, grabbed the child and started yelling at him. This happened again two days later, according to the affidavit.
An officer knocked on Thornton’s door following the incident, but there was no response.
On Jan. 2, another NPD officer responded to a report of an unsupervised child wearing no coat. The officer spoke with another resident who said the child, approximately three years old, was running around the streets and railroad tracks where a train was nearing the intersection, the affidavit states.
The officer spoke with the child and asked where he lived. He showed the officer where he lived and the officer was advised that Thornton was at work and the child climbed out of the window and ventured off a half mile from his residence. The officer then notified Thornton and Child Protective Services.
On Jan. 18, Thornton called the NPD and said her child was missing. She had fallen asleep and when she woke, her child was gone, she told police. The child was found a half mile from his home, wearing pajama pants, a long sleeve shirt, shoes and no socks and was shaking due to cold weather.
During the most recent incident on April 5, Thornton reported her child missing again. Her child was located approximately 10 minute later at a neighbor’s residence. The child said his mother, Thornton, was sleeping, so the neighbors decided to take care of the child, the affidavit states.
Thornton is being held in the Kosciusko County jail on a $10,000 bond.
(Story By The Times Union)
