Shauna Lee Bennett (Photo credit: Lubbock County Detention Center)A 3-year-old found wandering around an apartment complex wasn’t crying for her mother, but Texas police say she had a fairly adult request: “I need a beer.”
The girl’s mother, 42-year-old Shauna Lee Bennett, is now facing child abandonment charges and the girl has been placed with Child Protective Services, according to Lubbock’s Fox affiliate, KJTV.
Police say they found the “extremely dirty” and barefoot girl on Saturday at the Corte Vista Apartments and once they located the girl’s home, discovered a filthy apartment. According to the police report, the home had cockroaches climbing the walls and a non-functioning kitchen filled with moldy dishes.
“This was a clear neglect on the mother’s part,” Lubbock Police Department Lt. Ray Mendoza told KJTV. “More than anything it was the conditions the child was living under and the fact that the mom was completely oblivious to where the child had been or where it was at the time.”
Police said in addition to the beer request, the girl also repeatedly complained that she was hungry.
Police made contact with Bennett after finding her asleep in the apartment and she reportedly told officers she had no idea where the child was.
A neighbor defended Bennett, saying it’s all one big misunderstanding.
“A kid is going to play outside, not have shoes on and so forth, so a child being not clean, that’s just natural,” Keith Graves said.
According to NBC affiliate WSFA, the filthy child had previously been found wandering around the complex. The apartment manager told police he had found the child outside multiple times and had to take her back home.
http://national.suntimes.com/national-world-news/7/72/2680755/lost-3-year-old-police-need-beer
