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Sugar Cookie

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Three people have been charged with neglect after five children were found in a Wolcottville home with lice, scabies, and a baby, severely malnourished and in need of emergency care.

On Feb. 28, child welfare workers received a report about a 3-month-old in a "severely malnourished state."

According to a probable cause affidavit, a man who answered the door - Paul N. Martin - told police they needed a warrant to enter the home, but police had an "emergency removal order" and placed Marin in custody. Inside, a woman - Cheyenne Stiner - was detained for refusing to allow police in the upstairs of the home.

In the home, police found "large amounts of trash and feces strewn about the house," and the house had "no running water, no proper bathroom and no proper beds," according to the affidavit. Two mattresses upstairs were surrounded by trash, feces and dirty diapers, the document said.

Authorities found five children - ages 7, 5, 4, 1 and the infant – upstairs; all were taken to a local hospital for treatment. The 3-month-old was "severely emaciated and malnourished and rushed to the emergency room," the affidavit said.

The 7-year-old was treated for head lice and scabies, and the 4-year-old was found to have a severe case of head lice and scabies coupled with a rash from her incessant scratching. The 1-year-old suffered from head lice, scabies, a double ear infection and pneumonia.

The 3-month-old was found to be hypothermic, extremely dehydrated and emaciated and extremely malnourished. Emergency room staff had to drill a hole into the infant's leg bone to run an IV.

The older children told investigators that they'd eaten a piece of bread for breakfast and nothing since, the affidavit said.

Stiner is the mother of four of the children, including two of them with 23-year-old Jerry L. Snyder and one with Martin. Snyder fathered another child found at the home.

Snyder admitted to police that the home was "a complete mess" and said, "we have no excuse for not taking the baby to the doctor," according to the affidavit.

Stiner told police that the house has not had running water for "a month of two," and said they didn't have the "means or money" to take the infant to the doctor. When asked why the kids were neglected and the house was dirty, Stiner said: "We're lazy."
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So the kids are cousins or half siblings or both?


Except one child appears to have a different mother. It seems she escaped this house of horrors.
Yeah, too bad she didn't love her child enough to take them with her..
I wish I could take all the unloved children in all these stories. I'm poor, but I would love them so much.. How are there so fucking many people that can treat children like this? I'll never understand.
 
I wish I could take all the unloved children in all these stories. I'm poor, but I would love them so much.. How are there so fucking many people that can treat children like this? I'll never understand.
You should think about being a foster care provider.
You would get a small check each month to cover expenses for the child.
As far as I know, there is no county in the US that isn't in need of loving foster homes. You don't have to be a two parent household. Just willing.
 
Feb 14, 2020
A woman whose four children were suffering from malnourishment and disease while living in deplorable conditions in a Wolcottville home strewn with trash, urine and feces and was sentenced to two years for that neglect.

Her then 3-month-old infant may have been just days away from death, on the verge of starvation and so emaciated and dehydrated that it weighed less than many newborns. Three other children were suffering other various ailments including lice and scabies.

Cheyenne Stiner, 27, received a total sentence of four years, but only two will be served as executed time. Of those two years, one year will be served behind bars in prison, while the second can be served on Noble County Community Corrections. The other two years are suspended to probation.

The case was pleaded down from more serious neglect charges.

Stiner, along with two men, Jerry Snyder and Paul Martin, were arrested after five children were removed from a reportedly filthy home in Wolcottville due to extreme malnourishment and neglect, according to court documents.

Stiner’s 3-month-old child was so dehydrated that medical staff couldn’t start an IV and had to drill a hole into the infant’s leg bone to start fluids.

Another of the children had a double ear infection and pneumonia. Three other children were treated for illnesses relating to neglect. All five children were been placed in the care of the Department of Child Services.

Martin and Stiner were the parents of one of the children. Snyder and Stiner were parents of two of the children. Snyder was the sole parent of one of the other children. Stiner also was the sole parent of one of the other children living at the home.

The home had no running water, no proper bathroom and no food, according to court documents. There were two small mattresses in an upstairs room, The mattresses were “surrounded by trash, feces and dirty diapers.”

The Department of Child Services visited the home on Feb. 28, 2018, to investigate a report of a malnourished infant. After not receiving a response at the home, DCS received an emergency removal order.
Occupants allegedly didn’t want to let officers into the house, at which point they were detained.
Officers observed “large amount of trash and feces strewn about the house,” according to filings.
All three adults were charged with various count of neglect.

A sentencing for Snyder was supposed to occur Friday, but was delayed until March. A change of plea and sentencing hearing is set for Martin in April.

On Friday, Stiner’s attorney Greg Fumarolo said this case was representative of one where child service works extremely well. After law enforcement and Department of Child Services removed the children from the home and criminal charges were filed, Stiner has successfully begun a long path to rehabilitation, he said.
“My client got involved in the DCS system and has done very well,” he said, adding later, “I believe Cheyenne is well on her way as rehabilitation is concerned.”

Fumarolo noted that Stiner has no previous criminal record and was scored as a low risk to reoffend in a pre-sentence investigation. He asked that the court consider allowing her to serve any executed time on home detention.

Deputy Prosecutor Leslie Shively made no argument for a particular sentence, but spent her time reminding the court of the heinous circumstances of the incident.

The children in the house ranged from Stiner’s 3-month old to an 11-year-old. All five were living in “extreme” conditions in a house that was filled with trash and had patches of dog urine and feces as well as dirty diapers.

The 3-month-old may not have survived much longer in those conditions if DCS had not intervened, Shively posited.

Despite a clearly starving infant and conditions in the house that could only be described as “deplorable,” no one made any effort to improve the situation or care for the children.

Because the house had no plumbing, Shively cited examples that people walked to a nearby gas station to use a toilet and drove to a relative’s home in Michigan to bathe.

“There were three adults living there and no one was working,” Shively said. “I fully believe it was laziness.”

Shively acknowledged that Stiner has put in significant work to improve since the children were removed, but also stated that punishment needed to be part of the sentence.

“This kind of maltreatment will not be tolerated in this community,” Shively said.

Noble Circuit Court Judge Michael Kramer noted that Stiner has not criminal history and noted her effort to meet the requirements of the DCS case in order to improve herself and perhaps regain custody of her children some day.

But the judge also cited the biggest negative was the extreme situation of neglect.

“The extent of malnutrition and filth was senseless,” Kramer said.

Kramer also pointed out that while the children appeared to be starving, Stiner’s first appearances in court did not show that she was unhealthy or malnourished.

If the situation were truly so dire, Kramer said that he could only expect that if she had knocked on a few neighbors doors to beg for food or money for her children that she might not have had to look far for help. Local agencies, churches and others could have helped, if only she had sought help.

“You did not look like you were starving,” Kramer said. “You were taking care of yourself, but not taking care of your children.”

“This is such a senseless and outrageous case that executed time in warranted,” he said.
 
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