Young boy found home alone in the Bronx, living in despicable conditions
KINGSBRIDGE, Bronx (WABC) -- A mother and father are under arrest after police found their 5-year-old son home alone in the Bronx, living in despicable conditions.
A Fed-Ex worker making a delivery to the apartment in the Kingsbridge section on Friday noticed the child by himself.
The deliveryman then went out and hunted down a police officer. The child told police that his parents had not been home since Thursday night.
The parents have three other children - 13-year-old and 12-year-old girls and a 15-year-old boy. Only the 5-year-old boy was left home alone.
The apartment was full of human feces on the wall, and was infested with rats and roaches. Prosecutors say they also found maggots, and dead and live rodents. One of the children was taken to the hospital with insects crawling on his body. A doctor indicated that one of the children had scabies from lice crawling under the skin
There were also significant blood smears found in the apartment. A large quantity of the smears were in the bathroom - on the floors and toilet. It is unclear where the blood came from, prosecutors say.
The mother, 48-year-old Charlotte Lewis, a nurse at Montefiore Hospital was charged with four counts of failure to exercise control of a minor. The father, 59-year-old Wilfred Lewis, an MTA employee was charged with endangering a child and four counts of failure to exercise control of a minor.
The parents were both arraigned late Saturday night.
All four children are now in the custody of the Administration for Children's Services.
A judge has set bail at $15,000 for both parents. They are expected to appear back in court in February.
ACS' Deputy Commissioner for External Affairs Eric Ferrero released a statement:
"Our top priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all children in New York City. We are working with the NYPD to investigate this incident, and the safety of all of the other children who were in this home has been secured."
----------
