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Author Topic: Woman charged with abandoning her child  (Read 2955 times)
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MuffyBee
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« on: May 28, 2009, 09:37:42 PM »

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2009/05/28/woman_charged_with_abandoning.html
Woman charged with abandoning her child
 By Patrick George  | Thursday, May 28, 2009, 03:06 PM

A 24-year-old Austin woman has been charged with abandoning a child after investigators found she had been leaving her 4-year-old daughter alone in her apartment for hours at a time.

According to an arrest affidavit, a maintenance worker discovered the 4-year-old girl alone in an apartment while checking on a water heater at the Village at Gracy Farms apartments in North Austin last Tuesday. The worker called 911 because the girl was alone and the front door was not secure, the affidavit said.  I'm glad the worker had the good sense to report this.

Investigators from the Austin Police Department and Child Protective Services arrived and determined that the girl was left alone for hours on Mondays through Fridays, and would climb onto a stool to get cereal on top of the refrigerator when she got hungry, the affidavit said. The stove and cabinets containing household chemicals were not child-proofed, and the girl told investigators that “it made her feel sad” when she was home alone.

Investigators determined that the girl’s mother was Michelle Eilleen Delvecchio, who left the girl alone while she was at work because she could not afford child care, the affidavit said. The girl had been left alone most days from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. when Delvecchio’s boyfriend would return home. This schedule had been going on since March, the affidavit said.

Delvecchio has been charged with abandoning a child, a state jail felony. She is not in custody, according to Travis County Jail records.
(my comment in red-Muffy)
« Last Edit: May 28, 2009, 09:39:25 PM by MuffyBee » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2009, 10:25:56 PM »

WTH!!!! 4 yrs old to take care of herself???
where are the grand parents? where are the neighbors? someone knew about this...how could any man worth any thing go along with this??? grrrrrr....can't get over people and their ignorance and their unconcern towards their own child!  poor little baby...and that is what she is ...she is still a baby!
might have missed it but where is the little girl now?
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Tracygirl
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« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2009, 10:42:08 PM »

My kids are more then twice this girls age and I still not do not leave them alone. When they were 4, I would be afraid to throw out the trash just right outside. How can a mother leave her child alone for 5 hours! OMG the panic I feel  inside just thinking about it! She is so lucky nothing happened to this child! Thank god the mantance man was a good honest person and called the police!
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MuffyBee
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« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2009, 11:43:38 PM »

http://www.keyetv.com/content/news/topnews/story/Austin-mother-boyfriend-accused-of-leaving-4-year/bpyRns08oky_0to_poiAYA.cspx

Austin mother, boyfriend accused of leaving 4-year-old home alone

Last Update: 6:21 pm
n Austin mother and her boyfriend are facing charges for allegedly leaving her 4-year-old daughter home alone on a regular basis. Police say the pair would leave the woman’s 4 year old daughter by herself at their North Austin apartment for hours at a time.

A worker at the apartment complex knocked on the couple’s door last week. Police say the 4-year-old answered and told the maintenance worker she was alone. The apartment complex manager called 911.

Police say the mother, Michelle Delvecchio, told them she and her boyfriend, Jonathan Gouldman, started leaving the girl home alone in March while they were at work or school. According to court documents, the girl had no access to a phone, and the apartment was not child-proof.

Delvecchio told police she couldn’t afford child care but that she thought her daughter was smart enough that nothing would happen to her.

"During one of the interviews, the child admitted to climbing up on to something to get cereal of the top of the refrigerator," said Sgt. Richard Stresing with the Austin Police Department. "There’s a potential for the child falling, and if something did happen, there was no adult there to assist the child or contact emergency services."

Delvecchio and Gouldman are charged with abandoning a child. Delvecchio is free on bond; police say it's not clear if her boyfriend has been arrested.

I wondered if the boyfriend might be brought up on some sort of  charge, because he knew the little girl was left alone.  And if he shared care of her, to me, that could also mean he left the little girl alone also-especially if he was staying at the apt.  He shares responsbility imo. 
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MuffyBee
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« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2009, 05:57:47 PM »

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/29/0529abandon.html
Police: Girl often left alone
Mother, boyfriend charged
with abandoning 4-year-old in North Austin apartment.

By Patrick George
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, May 29, 2009

A maintenance worker who entered a North Austin apartment last week to shut off the water heater discovered a 4-year-old girl alone in the home, according to court documents.

Now, the girl's 24-year-old mother and her boyfriend have been charged with abandoning a child. Investigators said the two have been leaving the girl alone for hours at a time since March, according to an arrest affidavit. If they are convicted of the felony charge, Michelle Eilleen Delvecchio and Jonathan Gouldman, 24, face up to two years in a state jail.

The affidavit said the worker at the Village at Gracy Farms apartments, near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) and Burnet Road, knocked on the door May 19 because he needed to turn off the water heater for maintenance. The girl opened the door and told him that she was home alone, the affidavit said. The apartment manager then called 911 because the front door was not secure, the affidavit said.

Investigators from the Austin Police Department and the state Child Protective Services arrived and determined that the girl was left alone for hours during the week and would climb onto a stool to get cereal on top of the refrigerator when she got hungry, the affidavit said.

The stove and cabinets containing household chemicals were not child-proofed, the affidavit said, and the girl told investigators that "it made her feel sad" when she was home alone.

The girl told investigators that "she was a big girl, and she was home alone all the time," the affidavit said. "The victim said her mom leaves first, when the sun is still down, and returns after the sun is up."

Investigators talked to Delvecchio, who told them that starting in March, she and her boyfriend had been leaving the girl alone while Delvecchio was at work because she could not afford child care, the affidavit said. The girl had been left alone at least three days a week, starting at7:30 a.m., when Delvecchio went to work, until her boyfriend returned from college classes, the affidavit said.

She told investigators that they planned to continue that schedule until the girl started kindergarten in August.

The affidavit said Delvecchio told investigators "that she thought (her daughter) was very intelligent, and (Delvecchio) did not think that anything would happen to the (girl)."

Investigators also talked to Gouldman, who told them that he knew the child was in the apartment by herself and that he went to school from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. three days a week while Delvecchio was at work.

Neither Delvecchio nor Gouldman was in custody Thursday, according to Travis County Jail records.

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  " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."  - Daniel Moynihan
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« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2009, 10:24:30 PM »

I wouldn't be able to think straight at a job knowing that my 4 yr old was home alone!
what is wrong with people???
who has the little girl now? hope she is not back with the idiots...
She must have been so lonely in those hours that she was by herself...poor baby...
no one to get her meals for her, no one to dress her, no one to help her potty...no one to wipe her tears... no one to talk to or to play with her...no one who cared enough......my heart is breaking for her...
hopefully there will be a family member who will take over raising this child...
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