(Michigan City, IN) - Four children were practically abandoned in a home with no heat, forcing them to wear layers of clothing underneath blankets and in filthy conditions.
Those are the allegations drawn in the four counts of Level 5 felony neglect of a dependent filed in La Porte Superior Court 1 against Ashley McComas, 40, of Michigan City.
According to court documents, a late January welfare check at Tall Timbers Apartments on the city’s east side revealed the temperature inside the home was 45 degrees in nearly subzero conditions outside.
The fan on the furnace was running but the air blowing out was not heated. According to police, the oldest child said they had been without heat “for a while.”
There was also cold air coming into the home from a back door that contained no window pane. The back door could not be reached because of the amount of garbage and various other items on the floor, police said.
Court documents also revealed bags of garbage and trash along with feces were on the floor in other areas of the apartment and no toilet paper was in either one of the two bathrooms.
Police said the kitchen sink had garbage, dishes and stagnant water in it.
The refrigerator contained just a head of lettuce and a moldy onion while there was nothing inside the freezer except for mold, according to court documents.
Police said there were also no mattresses inside most of the children’s bed frames.
The investigation alleges McComas left the children alone for months to be with a man living nearby except when she returned home about once a day to check on them. During that period, she also received an eviction notice ordering them out of the residence by February 3.
During the welfare check, McComas was found where she had been staying and blamed her children for the conditions inside the home, police said.
The children were soon placed into the care of grandmother who previously had custody of the kids, according to court documents. McComas could face anywhere from a one to six year sentence on each count.
