CAMDEN-ON-GAULEY, W.Va. (TCN) — A woman has been arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect after allegedly telling children to hide from law enforcement.
According to court documents obtained by WDTV, officers arrived at a home on Feb. 6 to perform a welfare check on a mentally incapacitated adult. They knocked and no one answered, but the door was unlocked and slightly ajar, so they went into the home and found two girls, ages 6 and 9, hiding under a blanket.
Deputies asked the girls, whose names have not been released, why they were hiding, and they told them Dakota Underwood, 30, had instructed them hide from law enforcement, according to WDTV.
WBOY reports the girls were barefoot and wearing dirty, oversized T-shirts. A criminal complaint obtained by the outlet said additional troopers arrived on the scene, which was reportedly in disarray, with rotten food, mounds of trash on the floor, and piles of dirty diapers in the bathroom. What appeared to be human feces was smeared on the wall in the girls’ bedroom, WDTV reports, and there was a strong odor of cat feces and urine throughout.
When child protective services arrived, the children had trouble finding coats and shoes in the home, according to WDTV.s
Underwood allegedly told authorities she had left the children alone for a short period of time with someone who was mentally incapacitated, according to the criminal complaint.
WBOY reports Underwood is in custody on a $50,000 bond.
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