A Florida mother has been arrested and charged with child neglect and possession of methamphetamine after she allegedly left her young child in a suspected drug home for days without any food.
The child, who is just one-year-old, was found by the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office after a concerned neighbor called the police upon discovering the child was alone in the home on an old mattress.
According to PIO Tod Goodyear, the citizens said they went over to the suspected drug house to talk about a theft with the occupants. Goodyear said the witness noticed no one had been home for some time and a child was asleep on the mattress on the floor with a hole nearby. He said the child might have been there for at least three days alone.
The neighbor knew the mother of the young child as Ashley Basket. Basket, 31, was nowhere to be found. And, according to the witness, everybody in the home was either asleep, high or intoxicated.
It’s not known if anyone in the home was actually taking care of the child.
Goodyear said the witness was concerned about the child’s safety and brought the baby to her home and called the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office right away.
The deputies, after talking to the witness, noticed the child’s diaper was overly saturated with urine, and his clothing was dirty. The child was also noted to have unidentifiable marks on the face. One of the deputies, upon seeing the child, left to buy diapers, baby wipes and a bottle so the child could eat.
Officials with Child Protective Services took emergency custody of the baby.