A 7-year-old Ohio boy who hadn’t eaten anything for days was trying to sell his teddy bear to get money for food, police said.
Franklin police officer Steve Dunham told WLWT-TV on Thursday he found the boy in front of a CVS store last Sunday afternoon.
The hungry child’s parents, Tammy and Michael Bethel, face child endangering charges after investigators said they found four older boys at the family home living among garbage, cat urine and cockroaches.
Tammy Bethel has since written on the Facebook page of the Franklin Police Department that she denies the allegations. Yet Dunham said the sight of the boy peddling a teddy bear upset him so much he took him to a Subway to get something to eat right away.
“It broke my heart. He told me that he was trying to sell his stuffed animal to get money for food because he hadn't eaten in several days,” Dunham told WLWT.
The caring cop and the boy “said a little prayer and ate dinner together,” he added.
Two other officers went to the Bethels' home after Dunham took the boy to the police station in the small town roughly 15 miles outside Dayton, Franklin police told the Journal-News of Butler and Warren counties.
The officers found liquor bottles, garbage and cat urine in the squalor of the Main St. house, according to a police report obtained by the newspaper.
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Investigators believe the house showed a “a substantial risk of health and safety by neglecting the cleanliness in the residence, having a large amount of bugs and spoiled food throughout the residence, not having properly prepared and packaged food for the minor children to eat, and allowing a 7-year-old child to wander from the residence without their permission or knowledge, in an attempt to locate food.”
Child welfare officials removed all five children from their parents’ care and placed them with other relatives. A judge ordered the Bethels not to have any contact with the children, according to the newspaper.
Both Tammy and Michael Bethel face five counts of child endangerment charges ahead of a court appearance next month.They pleaded not guilty.
Tammy Bethel went on the Franklin police Facebook page Friday to say that her house is normally clean and the CVS where police found her son is very close to her home. She said the house was dirty after her kids had friends over in recent days.
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“The cop just popped up on the wrong day I hadn't had a chance to clean the mess that all them kids had made and yes I was arguing with my kids to help clean the mess up,” Bethel wrote. “BTW my kids didn't even eat the food that the cops brought them because they had just ate.”
Other users jeered her and her husband in response. One of them politely asked her to “please stop” posting on the page.
“You're trying to defend the indefensible,” the user wrote. “Just pick yourself up, own it, and be a better parent. Nobody hates you. But you need to do better.”
The police department said a local church, St Vincent De Paul of 115 S. Main St., is accepting donations of money to help the children involved in the case. Franklin Police Chief Russell Whitman praised the officers who had investigated Sunday in an interview with WLWT.
“Hopefully, these officers’ actions changed these kids’ lives and maybe changed the lives of the parents, to become better parents,” Whitman said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/hungry-ohio-boy-sell-teddy-bear-food-police-article-1.2750327http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1305736-hungry-ohio-boy-tried-to-sell-teddy-bear-for-food-police-say/Panhandlers are getting younger & younger these days.
