A jury found a Reading mother of four guilty on two counts of endangering the welfare of children Friday for twice leaving her youngest daughter, 3 years old at the time, home alone.
Carmen Wentzel was found guilty by a jury of eight women and four men following a trial that began Thursday afternoon and continued Friday. The jury came to its verdict after only about 30 minutes of deliberation Friday afternoon.
Wentzel was convicted of leaving her daughter home alone in her apartment twice in May 2017.
The first time, the girl was discovered by a property manager for the building, Jeffrey Burkhardt. Burkhardt testified that on May 8 he knocked on Wentzel's door, and used his key to enter after getting no response. He said the apartment was in disarray, and he at first thought Wentzel had abandoned it.
But he noticed a kitchen chair that was leaning against a door, and when he moved the chair and opened the door he found the little girl, wearing a nightgown and diaper, barricaded in a bedroom. The girl had a bowl of dry cereal, he said, but did not have access to a bathroom or running water and had been unable to leave the room because of the chair.
Burkhardt said he contacted Berks Counseling Services, which said it would send someone to look after the girl.
On May 18, two Berks County constables visited Wentzel's home to serve her with legal papers. They testified that they waited outside her door for about an hour and then knocked on the door.
Their knock was answered by the little girl, who was home alone. The constables also testified that the apartment was in deplorable condition.
Defense attorney Kathleen D. Dautrich didn't dispute that the little girl was twice left alone. She did, however, challenge who was responsible.
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