Juvenile court to probe endangering case

The 2-year-old boy had
swallowed two pills,
including one for anxiety.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — The city prosecutor is holding four child-endangering charges over the head of a Hubbard Township woman police say was supervising grandchildren living in filth.

City Prosecutor Jay Macejko said Tuesday that the case of 47-year-old Deborah Jean Poe is being turned over to the Mahoning County Juvenile Court.

Macejko said he will hold in abeyance the four charges until the case is investigated by juvenile court prosecutors.

Meanwhile, Poe was released from the county jail Tuesday morning. She was booked Monday after she called police to her daughter’s Wilcox Street house after a 2-year-old boy she was caring for took two of her pills.

She told police the boy had swallowed Tylenol and an anti-anxiety medication that she had on the couch in a bottle that wasn’t childproof.

The boy was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center. Macejko said the child was held for observation and the medication didn’t harm him.

Contacted after her release from jail, Poe declined to comment.

What happened

The 2-year-old was one of four children found in the house. The others are 6- and 5-year-old boys and a 4-year-old girl. They were turned over to Mahoning County Children Services.

Police reported that Poe, of Youngstown-Hubbard Road, was watching the children because her daughter is hospitalized.

The 6-year-old told police that he and his siblings were often locked in their bedroom for long periods by their mother’s boyfriend. Because of that, he said he and his siblings used the floor as a toilet. He also told police that their grandmother beat them with a leather belt.

A belt found in the house was recovered as evidence. Macejko said the boyfriend may be charged for locking them in the bedroom.

Police said that Poe told various stories as to why the children were locked in the bedroom.

There were no beds in the bedroom. Rather, mattresses were on the floor with no sheets. Only a cup of milk and a few cans of vegetables were found in the kitchen.

There was an odor of cat urine, and the children’s bodies were covered with stains from a liquid marking pen they played with, the police report states.

yovich@vindy.com