Aug. 23 – A Morgantown woman was arrested Monday for gross child neglect after Monongalia County Sheriff’s Deputies were sent to conduct a welfare check at a residence on Ann Marie Drive near Pierpont Road.
The welfare check followed a call from the father of a resident child. The father said he feared for his daughter’s safety while the girl was staying with her mother, Charlsie Ryan Allen, 37, from Morgantown.
Once on scene, officers L. Thompson and N. Rose knocked on the front door of the residence and were greeted by a female child, the indictment said.
When officers asked the girl to talk to her mother, they reported hearing an adult woman say to the child, “No, close the door.”
Deputies said the child gestured and asked them to enter the residence, but Allen refused.
The officers told Allen they were there for a welfare check and they just needed to see her physically, but she still refused.
According to the complaint, officers believed Allen was intoxicated because she had difficulty understanding, her speech was delayed and slurred, and she made statements that made no sense.
The deputies warned Allen that if she did not cooperate with the welfare check, they would be forced to call the Child Protective Services (CPS). At that point, she allegedly “shut the door on the faces of the cops.”
CPS was called and came to the scene, the complaint said. Allen then stepped outside with the child and attempted to leave in a car. She refused to cooperate with CPS and would not answer their questions.
Deputies reported that Allen had “watery, bloodshot eyes accompanied by a blank or confused stare” and also smelled of alcohol.
Allen was arrested for gross child neglect and was arraigned at Monongalia County Magistrate Court on Tuesday. She is currently being held in North Central Regional Jail on $5,000 bond.
According to the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, the child was placed in the care of her father.
