BRISTOL RAPE Lawyer: Mom had trust in teen

Both adults have been released from jail after posting bond.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NEWTON FALLS -- A mother accused of child endangering had "no clue" that a 14-year-old boy she left baby-sitting her children might harm her 5-year-old daughter, her lawyer says.
Toni Marcheskie said Angelique Bailey, 35, had been living with Thomas J. McDaniel, and his father, Roy, for about a month and felt Thomas was old enough to baby-sit.
"He had no history of sexual deviant behavior," Marcheskie said Thursday.
Authorities say Thomas was convicted last year of vandalism charges. He and another juvenile vandalized Bristol High School on March 6, 2000, causing substantial damage to a new addition.
Thomas is being held in the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center on two delinquency charges of rape and one of felonious assault.
He is accused of raping Bailey's 5-year-old daughter around 8 p.m. Saturday in their state Route 88 residence in Bristol Township.
The girl is in stable condition at Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital in Youngstown. Bailey's other children are in the custody of Trumbull County Children Services.
Adults were traveling: Police say Thomas was baby-sitting the girl and Bailey's two other children, ages 8 and 2, while Bailey and her 6-week-old daughter accompanied Roy McDaniel on a trucking trip to Dayton.
McDaniel is a driver for Hayford Trucking of Pennsylvania, according to the sheriff's department.
Pleaded innocent: Bailey and McDaniel have pleaded innocent to four charges of child endangering and are free on bonds of $10,500 each. Preliminary hearings are set for Tuesday in Newton Falls Municipal Court, which includes Bristol Township in its jurisdiction.
McDaniel and his attorney, John Large, declined to comment after the arraignment Thursday.
Thomas has told authorities that he was often left alone to watch the children and that his father and Bailey would call once a week. Deputies described the interior of the house as "deplorable, unsanitary and unfit to be lived in by anyone."
Deputies noted that there was not sufficient food in the residence.
"I know police have said that the children did not have food, but my client says there was a freezer full of food," Marcheskie said.
She noted that Bailey moved from Louisiana to Ohio at the end of April. She lived with a friend for about a month before moving in with McDaniel and his son.
Bailey is still legally married to Tracey Bailey of Louisiana, officials said. McDaniel is in the process of divorcing his wife, Gertrude, Thomas' mother, who lives in Orangeville, officials said.
According to authorities, Trumbull County Children Services recently awarded McDaniel custody of Thomas.
Complaints about house: Nearby neighbors say they have often called the county health department and Bristol Township trustees about conditions at the home.
George Buccella, deputy health director, said workers from his department went there several times and the family had been working to clean it up.
According to notes written on the McDaniel file at the health department, investigators went to the residence several times, first on Aug. 5, 1999.
"The complaints dealt with objects that were on the lawn," Buccella said.
The reports also note that on Feb. 7, 2000, McDaniel told an investigator they were putting a roof on the home. Tarps still cover the roof.
When an investigator went back a month ago, family members said they thought the owner, David McCafferty, should take care of the roof. The investigator noted in that report that the property had been cleaned and no trash was in the front yard.
Besides tarps on the roof, an vehicle seat and miscellaneous objects were in the front yard this week.
sinkovich@vindy.com