Posted on 06/14/2003 6:35:55 AM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Neglect by Duncanville mom alleged
Indicted Duncanville woman denies leaving boy, 12, in squalor
06/14/2003
A Duncanville mother was indicted Friday on charges that she abandoned her 12-year-old son in a squalid home without running water or a telephone.
Larrolynn Joyce Ward visited the house twice a week to bring the boy food and water, according to court documents. As investigators stepped through the house in April, clouds of gnats swarmed with every footstep, and trash was at least 6 inches deep in every room, authorities said.
Ms. Ward, 36, was indicted on a felony charge of abandoning a child, and the boy has been placed in a foster home.
When questioned by police, Ms. Ward said she had been staying with her boyfriend in Old East Dallas while she looked for a job. She denied abusing the boy, telling investigators, "The house is neglected, not him." When questioned about the filthy house, she said it had been clean but her son "messed it up" the day before.
Reached by telephone Friday evening, Ms. Ward denied that she had left her son alone. She said he was supposed to have been staying with a friend but went to the house. She also disputed other details in the indictment, including the conditions in the house.
"That's not true at all," Ms. Ward said. "He was with a friend or with me."
She added that she was surprised by the indictment and that she thought she would have had the opportunity to present her side to grand jurors.
Ms. Ward posted $10,000 bond after her arrest in early May.
Along the 1200 block of Carroll Avenue, residents in the neighborhood of small frame homes said Friday that they regretted not alerting police sooner. Next-door neighbor Sherry Bell said her children played with the boy.
"We looked after him, fed him once in a while," Ms. Bell said. "You could tell something was wrong because the mother wasn't there."
Ms. Bell said she decided to call police in mid-April when she spotted the mother unloading jugs of water and thought that perhaps the water service had been disconnected. When she tried to call the boy to check on him, the phone line was not in service.
One neighbor told police that the neglect began more than two years ago with Ms. Ward leaving her son alone on weekends. As time passed, the mother would stay away longer, the neighbor said. For the last two months before the boy's removal, Ms. Ward would come by twice a week for about 20 minutes at a time to drop off food, according to court records.
The boy told police he could not remember the last time he had been to school, and police investigators said he was not enrolled in a Duncanville school last year.
Child Protective Services officials were unavailable for comment Friday.
Court records quoted neighbors as saying the owners of the home set about cleaning up the filth after the boy was removed in April. As an old sofa was being discarded at the curb, the neighbors saw a dead rat fall out, the records said.
Duncanville city spokesman Keith Bilbrey said water service had been shut off to the house two weeks before police were dispatched to investigate on April 16. It was unclear how the boy lived in the house without water and sewer service, he said.
E-mail rtharp@dallasnews.com
Court records quoted neighbors as saying the owners of the home set about cleaning up the filth after the boy was removed in April. As an old sofa was being discarded at the curb, the neighbors saw a dead rat fall out, the records said.
Duncanville city spokesman Keith Bilbrey said water service had been shut off to the house two weeks before police were dispatched to investigate on April 16. It was unclear how the boy lived in the house without water and sewer service, he said.
Words fail me. I hope the kid can grow up and overcome the fact that his mom abandoned him for some man.
HMMMMMM...
Hey bro, just finished reading a good article here on FR about "8 Mile", that Eminem movie that came out several months ago.
Rap ain't my thing but I might watch it just because Tipper Gore et al. don't like the guy, hehe...
But my parents never abandoned me to live alone by myself.
There may be some stuff not coming out in this story, but it does appear he wasn't receiving proper care. At least, not like most folks get.
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