Couple accused of endangerment of kids for ... keeping food, bathrooms locked up
An Allegheny Township, Pa, couple was charged with multiple felonies after their three children told police they are under near-constant video surveillance and most of the food in the house is kept locked up. Leann Marie Lawson, 35, and Nevin A. Lawson, 51, of the 100 block of Indian Hill Road, were charged Thursday, Feb. 3 with three counts each of endangering the welfare of children.
The children — boys in their mid-teens and a preteen girl — filed a ChildLine abuse report telling authorities their parents were intoxicated and arguing and they did not feel safe in the home ... their parents drink heavily and frequently argue, and Nevin Lawson is verbally and mentally abusive to the family.The older boy has “lost a substantial amount of weight” because he is confronted by Nevin Lawson whenever he attempts to get food from the kitchen.
Lawson installed locks on the kitchen cabinets and locked a room containing two freezers full of food. Lawson limits the amount and type of food the children can eat and he and his siblings are left to fend for themselves on things such as cereal, Pop Tarts, peanut butter and ramen noodles ... there are never any prepared meals and the children are not allowed to cook.
The boy said Lawson put locks on three of the four bathrooms in the house. The only one available to them to use is in the basement. When police spoke with the girl at her school Jan. 21, they questioned why she was only wearing a shirt as a dress that was “very short” with no leggings underneath on a day when temperatures dipped below 20 degrees. She told them she did not have clean clothing for more than a week because her father shut the water supply off.
In addition to arresting the Lawsons, police provided details of their investigation to a caseworker for the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau who has been assigned to the case. Both Lawsons were released from custody on a $25,000 nonsecured bond, according to court records.
https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/couple-accused-of-endangerment-for-using-cameras-to-monitor-kids-keeping-food-bathrooms-locked-up/
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