Children Reportedly Found in Dog Kennel on Wise County Property

[Satanica]

LE actually turned up at the property for a DV call and took a woman into custody. While talking to the couple, officers heard children inside and checked them out. They found two children, 4 and 5, inside a dog kennel. A 3 and a 1 yr old were also present but not inside a kennel. All were malnourished.

The children were taken to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth while the man was hospitalized for an injury to his face.

CPS had apparently received this case and were in the early stages of an investigation. Wonder how long they'd had it.

‘Malnourished' Children Found Locked in Dog Kennel on Wise County Property, Parents Charged

North Texas deputies discovered four young children in a “state of neglect,” in rural Wise County Tuesday; two of the children were being held inside a small locked dog kennel.

www.nbcdfw.com

 

[Babs]

"The older two were found locked in a single, wired, 3-by-3 foot dog kennel, one on a blanket and another on a small toddler bed;...

I'm having a hard time envisioning all that in at 3 x 3 foot space?? I don't think so...

 

[JackBurton]

Malnourishment certainly is a problem.

I dont see a big deal about putting em in a dog cage for small periods of time at least.

 

[lithiumgirl]

That house looked miserable ... and like it stank of the same.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

@Satanica

The parents, Andrew Fabila and Paige Harkings, both 24, were arrested and charged with four counts of criminal negligence. Harkings was additionally charged with aggravated assault. In Fabila’s mugshot, multiple cuts can be seen across his face and neck.

Deputies with the Wise County Sheriff’s Office responded to a domestic disturbance shortly before 7:30 a.m. at the home near Decatur.

Deputies found that Fabila and Harkings had been in a fight.

Police told the Wise County Messenger that Harkings is the biological mother of all four children. Fabila is the father of one of the children.
They were in the Wise County Jail on Tuesday.

The children were released from the hospital on Tuesday evening and placed into foster care, according to Marissa Gonzales with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

2 kids found locked in dog kennel, 2 others malnourished in Wise County, sheriff says

A domestic disturbance led Wise County authorities to discover two children in locked dog kennel and two other children who appeared to be malnourished, the sheriff said. The parents have been arrested.

www.star-telegram.com

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004212676984 His
https://www.facebook.com/paige.harkins.562 Hers

 

[Keepalowprofile]

she clawed his face up so he called 911. It's okay if the kids are abused but not him.

Their pictures and mugshots look like
Before and after meth.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

@Satanica

The Wise County Sheriff's Department released arrest affidavits for the parents charged in connection with a horrific child abuse case.

Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said the discovery might not have even occurred, without the persistence of law enforcement officers who investigated the initial domestic disturbance report. The sheriff said they asked permission to enter the home after hearing children’s voices, but the pair refused. Deputies suspected the two were intoxicated so, citing exceptional circumstances, they went inside, where they found the children covered in feces, two of them locked in dog cages.

Akin said when deputies found them, all of the children were hungry and thirsty and that "there was plenty of food inside the shop but the refrigerator and the cabinets had been locked so the kids could not get in to get food."

The affidavits detail the exact moments when deputies, as well as Texas State Troopers, pulled up to the metal shop in rural Wise County and saw Harkings and Fabila standing outside the shop smoking. When approached, both parents tried to run back inside the building.

Officers separated the pair. When Fabila was ask if anyone else was inside the building he said "Yes, all four of my kids are inside," according to the documents.

The affidavit then details how a State Trooper and a Wise County Sheriff's Deputy entered the shop, where they found one child wrapped in a blanket, lying on a heating pad. Two other children were locked inside a canine kennel and were covered in their own feces. A fourth child was lying in a Pack-N-Play wrapped in multiple blankets.

The document goes on to detail a space heater that the officers observed right next to the kennel where the children were lying.

Investigators also said the shop had electricity, but no plumbing and the children were using a non-connected toilet, which had trash bags around it, used to urinate and defecate inside.

The affidavit also details how the children's clothing and bedding were dirty and and the children who were in diapers had dirty diapers that appeared to have not been changed in a lengthy amount of time.

New Details Released in Wise County Child Abuse Case

The Wise County Sheriff’s Department released arrest affidavits for the parents charged in connection with a horrific child abuse case.

www.nbcdfw.com

 

[ghosttruck]

Update: @Sugar Cookie @Satanica @Keepalowprofile @Babs

Judge: No relatives to care for children found in barn

A North Texas judge says four young siblings will remain in foster care after two were discovered locked in a dog cage and the others were found smeared with excrement in a barn.

www.foxnews.com

 

[staysblazed_xo]

Biological father of children found locked in cage says learning of situation was 'painful'

 

[Muriel Schwenck]

Bio dad hadn't seen his 3 children since October 2018, and wasn't allowed to see them when he dropped off Christmas presents. How often did he see them, or even try to in the last year or so?
Because it sounds like more than a few months of neglect brought these little children low.
I know Dad may have tried and been kept away, but I'm side eyeing him too for just letting things slide, because "no news is good news".

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The judge determined no one in the children's family was currently suitable to take care of the kids, so they'll remain in foster care right now.

Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said CPS is also seeking diagnoses and therapy for some of the kids who are said to be non-verbal.

"We're worried about some developmental delays," Gonzales said.

Biological father of children found locked in cage says learning of situation was 'painful'

The judge made the right call in not placing the children with any family members.

DFPS better monitor the children and ensure their safety.

Since the children are possibly delayed the home needs to be monitored and the foster parents need to be able to meet the needs of the children.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

One of two parents of children found in what law enforcement described as “horrendous conditions” — including young children found in dog kennels — three years ago has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Andrew Joseph Fabila, 27, pleaded guilty to four counts of injury to a child by knowingly causing serious mental deficiency/ impairment/injury and was sentenced to 20 years confinement in prison, according to district court records.

Fabila and Paige Isabow Harkings, 27, were both arrested in February 2019 and later indicted on four counts of injury to a child. Harkings is the mother of all four children, and Fabila is the father of one child.

The children were discovered after officers responded to a family disturbance call on Feb. 12, 2019.

An arrest affidavit in the case provides details of what a Wise County Sheriff’s deputy and Texas Department of Public Safety trooper found inside.

“One child was wrapped up in a blanket, lying on a heating pad, which was on top of a plastic wrapping over a mattress. Two children were locked in a canine kennel and were covered in their own feces. The fourth child was lying in a Pack- N-Play bed wrapped up in multiple blankets. There was a floor space heater directly next to the canine kennel where the two children covered in their own feces were lying,” the affidavit states.

The shop had electricity but no running water or toilet facilities. The affidavit states the children were using a non-connected toilet with trash bags around the toilet bowl to urinate and defecate.

The two older children, ages 5 and 4 at the time, were found locked in the kennel that Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin described at the time as appropriate for a medium or large-sized dog. The two younger children, ages 3 and 1 at the time, were in diapers that appeared not to have been changed “in a lengthy amount of time,” the affidavit states.

Akin described the inside as “cluttered with trash and human waste.”

“It was just horrendous. It’s not the way children should be living,” he said.

Food was located in the building, but both the refrigerator and the cabinets were locked so the children could not access the food.

Medics responded to check on the children, who were later taken to Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth. Child Protective Services was also involved in the case, placing the children in foster care.

At a hearing following the arrests, a CPS investigator told the judge at least three of the children were non-verbal, and the oldest child seemed likely to have autism.


Officers originally responded to the location after dispatchers received a call from Fabila at 7:20 a.m. Feb. 12, 2019, about a possible disturbance at the location, according to call sheet records. Fabila told dispatchers he had consumed five beers and Harkings had three, the call sheet states. A woman could be heard yelling in the background about a broken window.

The affidavit states that a deputy arrived at the location and found Fabila and Harkings outside smoking, and both attempted to go back inside before the officer told them both to stop.

The two were separated and questioned individually, and Fabila was asked if there were any children in the home. He told the officer his four children were inside.

When the officers conducted a warrant check on Fabila and Harkings, they discovered a CPS child safety check alert on their identification returns. That led to the welfare check on the children

The indictment in the case describes “serious mental deficiency, impairment or injury” to the four children caused by “failing to provide a safe and clean living environment; failing to remove (the children) from a dog crate or dog kennel; failing to provide nutritional meals for (the children); failing to obtain regular medical checkups or follow-ups; failing to adequately engage, stimulate or interact with (the children) either physically, mentally or emotionally; and failing to remove (the children) from a location where marijuana was being possessed, smoked or ingested” while in the custody and care of Harkings and Fabila.


Harkings’ case is still pending in district court.

Fabila pleads guilty - Wise County Messenger

One of two parents of children found in what law enforcement described as “horrendous conditions” — including young children found in dog kennels — three years ago has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Andrew Joseph Fabila, 27, pleaded guilty Wednesday to four counts of injury to a child by...

www.wcmessenger.com