Background: Doddridge County Early Studying Academy in West Union, W.Va. (Google Maps). Insets (left to proper): Dwayne and Dorothy Hickman (Doddridge County Sheriff”s Workplace).
Dwayne Hickman, 37, and Dorothy Hickman, 29, face expenses of gross youngster neglect. The alert got here on February 10 from Doddridge County Early Studying Academy, positioned in West Union, roughly 30 miles west of Ohio. A faculty workers member seen the unsettling presence of cockroaches within the backpack, resulting in additional investigation into the kids’s well-being, as reported by native ABC station WBOY.
Employees additionally noticed that the Hickmans’ son was coated with bug bites on his face, arms, and decrease physique.
In keeping with CBS affiliate WDTV, the Hickmans’ daughter approached her instructor with a request to scrub her garments, describing them as “very soiled.”
The Doddridge County Sheriff’s Workplace rapidly escalated the matter to Youngster Protecting Providers (CPS). A CPS consultant inspected the Hickmans’ residence and reported appalling dwelling circumstances. Consequently, the kids have been positioned beneath CPS care, faraway from their mother and father’ custody for his or her security.
Deputies from the Doddridge County Sheriff’s Workplace referred the Hickmans’ case to Youngster Protecting Providers (CPS), which despatched a consultant to examine the household residence. After a CPS worker notified police concerning the “excessive deplorable dwelling circumstances” on the Hickmans’ residence, each kids have been faraway from the mother and father’ custody and at the moment are within the care of CPS.
Dwayne Hickman and Dorothy Hickman have been every charged with two counts of gross neglect of a kid creating a considerable threat of demise or critical bodily damage and arrested on Feb. 12. Throughout their first courtroom look, they each pleaded not responsible. A decide set their bail at $20,000.
Each Hickmans are nonetheless in custody on the North Central Regional Jail. They’re scheduled for preliminary hearings on Feb. 18.
