Results tagged “childendangerment”

It's almost a cliche: a person is accused of a heinous crime and people come out of the woodwork to tell media that, "that doesn't sound like the person we know. And it's holding true today. Friends and neighbors of Melissa Calusinski, the 22-year-old day care center aide accused of first degree murder in the death of 16-month-old Benjamin Kingan, said that Calusinski was a hard working young woman who spoke of how she loved children.

Charlene D. Cheatem, the mother of three children who died in a fire earlier this week has been charged with three counts of felony child endangerment resulting in death. Cheatem admitted she left the children alone in the house without adult supervision while she took another child to school and visited a sick relative. The three children who died were: Sharell Gates, 3, Tyrel Gates, 2, and Jimmy Gates, 7 months old. A fourth sibling was rescued from the fire and reported in fair condition at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. Investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire but initial reports show it could be a space heater as the gas to the building had been cut off.

Erika Ramirez, 29, has been charged with four counts of child endangerment stemming from an early Monday morning fire that killed two of her children and injured two others. Ramirez left the four children - ages 6, 7, 9, and 11 - alone at her house in the 7200 block of South Troy Street so she and her boyfriend could watch a freaking pool game at a nearby bar. The blaze killed Perla Gonzalez, 6, and Carla Gonzalez, 9, and the other two children, Victor Ramirez, 11, and Esmeralda Gonzalez, 7, were rescued by police. While a cause has not officially been identified, an overloaded electrical outlet is being cited as a potential cause. There is also a possibility that one of the children plugged in a small space heater. The kicker? Ramirez has previously pleaded guilty to child endangerment charges in 2000.