Mother Leaves Children in "Deplorable" Home Alone to Go Help a Friend "Fight Someone&
On Monday September 23rd, 23-year-old Mattie Viola Sims was arrested by Allegheny police for leaving her two small children at home alone to allegedly go help a friend who was about to go "fight someone".
According to TribeLive.com Sims children, ages 4 and 1, were seen by a neighbor opening the front door of their home and exiting alone late in the evening. The concerned neighbor said that she gave then food and something to drink shortly after 10pm. When no one returned to the home she called the police. They arrived at 11:22pm and found that no one else was inside the residence. The police report states that the neighbor did not see what time Sims left the house, only when the children started opening and closing the front door.
"While they were talking to the neighbor, police heard the children crying.
Inside, police found deplorable conditions that included soiled clothing, trash, human feces, old food and dirt covering the floor. A child’s cup was sitting next to a bottle of bleach on a small table by the front door and there was an empty gun holster and a bottle of lighter fluid next to the bleach, police wrote in the complaint.
When a police officer walked into the kitchen, the 4-year-old ran in and said, “I want to show you something!” and picked up a steak knife and held it in the air, according to the complaint.
There was a bag of onions, half-eaten birthday cake, two yogurts, five vitamin drinks and an open beer in the refrigerator and a bag of vegetables and french fries in the freezer, according to the complaint.
Sims’ bedroom had a mattress on the floor and a television on a nightstand. The children’s bedroom was covered with dirty clothes and there was another mattress on the floor for the 4-year-old and a small bassinet for the 1-year-old, police wrote in the complaint.
The children’s bedroom window had no glass in it, police said."
The police called Children, Youth and Family officials to come and take the children to a local medical center to be evaluated. Their mother returned home at 11:52pm, heavily intoxicated, and told authorities that she had only been gone for 15 minutes to help a friend who "was about to fight someone".
The children spent the night in the hospital and Sims went off to jail.
Sims is facing child endangerment charges. It is unclear if she has obtained an attorney at this point.
