A Kansasville woman with a reported drug addiction is accused of leaving her two children unsupervised over a period of days earlier this month.
Kristen Manderfield, 32, is charged with two counts of child abandonment and two counts of neglecting a child, in Racine County Circuit Court.
According to the criminal complaint filed Sept. 18, a county sheriff’s deputy met with Manderfield’s brother-in-law who said Manderfield left her two children alone at their home on Harrison Street on Sept. 6 and had not returned as promised as of the evening of Sept. 7.
The boys, ages 7 and 11, told the brother-in-law about 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 their mother had left earlier that day to run errands, according to the complaint. The older boy made dinner for his younger brother.
When the brother-in-law returned about 8:30 p.m. that evening, Manderfield still hadn’t returned, so he took the boys to his home for the night.
The brother-in-law told a deputy he got the boys off to school the next morning, but by the time they returned from class that afternoon, their mother was still not at home, despite reassurances she would be, the complaint alleges.
The boys told the deputy their mother frequently left them alone, according to the complaint.
A deputy was able to contact Manderfield, who said she was preoccupied selling a house in Kenosha, however, the deputy noted that the house was in foreclosure. Manderfield then told the deputy she was staying away because there was an active warrant for her arrest.
According to the complaint, Manderfield agreed to report to the Racine County Jail to pay the $250 warrant and speak with deputies, but she failed to show up.
The two boys were taken into protective custody by the Human Service Department and placed with the brother-in-law’s family, which reported that they had not heard from Manderfield as of Sept. 10.
A warrant in the amount of $10,000 was issued for Manderfield. The child abandonment charges are Class G felonies and the child neglect charges are Class A misdemeanors.
See the Sept. 28 edition of the Westine Report for additional court news.
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