5 kids from filthy home receive care

Police raided the home
looking for stolen goods.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

AUSTINTOWN — Five children taken from a filthy home on Westminster Avenue last week are now in foster care, and neighbors say they are glad the children are safe.

Four of eight adults living in the small cape cod house are charged in the child-endangering case, and police are expecting to charge all the adults living there with what they believe are stolen goods recovered in the home.

Police and the Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement Task Force raided the home Thursday morning to look for stolen goods traced back to the address, 212 Westminster, said township Detective Kathy Dina.

They found the house full of trash, with no running water. Two 2-year-old girls and a 7-month-old girl were sleeping in urine, without diapers. They and two boys, 7 and 10, were taken away immediately by the county’s Children Services after police called them to the house.

Denise Stewart, children services director, would not comment Tuesday on whether there were prior complaints against the family.

Who is charged

Charged with child endangering are Michelle Banks, 26, and Jason Webb, 27, parents of one of the children; and Boyd Kopsic, 34, father of four of the children, Dina said.

Jeanette Banks, 54, the homeowner and grandmother of all the children, is charged with complicity. All four appeared in county court here Monday for arraignment on the first-degree misdemeanor charges, and they are free on bond. Dina said the mother of four of the children, Catherine Banks, is in jail in Johnstown, Pa., for passing bad checks. Michelle and Catherine Banks are daughters of Jeanette Banks.

The county board of health has given Jeanette Banks until July 20 to remove garbage, clean the house and restore running water.

On the pleasant street of well-kept homes and trimmed lawns, neighbors said they didn’t know about the conditions inside the house.

The boys, they said, were friendly. But they would often go to neighbors’ houses asking for juice or water.

Some of the adults would ask to use neighbors’ phones, despite having their own cell phones, they said, and they were reluctant to let them in.

They knew that Ray Banks, 30, who also lived at the home, had a record for theft. He pleaded guilty May 15 to petty theft in county court. His relationship to Jeanette Banks and Michelle and Catherine Banks was not known.

Another resident is Bryan Kaelber, 36, Dina said. He pleaded guilty June 6 to receiving stolen property, according to court records.

Neighbors said the family came and went at late hours.

“When I go away, I lock up everything tight,” said neighbor Dolores, who did not want her last name used.

“Everybody is watching everybody else’s houses,” said neighbor Letha Herbst.

Items recovered

Dina said goods recovered from the home include lawn mowers, weed eaters, scooters, bikes, cameras, Sony PlayStations and jewelry. She said the items are believed to have been stolen from sheds, garages and cars.

Dina said charges will likely include complicity and receiving stolen property, because it won’t be easy to prove who actually stole the items.

Neighbors estimated Jeanette Banks and the others have lived in the house since shortly before Christmas.

“If they were down and out, I would have helped them, given them water,” Dolores said.

They saw the family get water in buckets from a creek next to the house, they said.

“I’m thankful those little kids are being taken care of,” Dolores said.

Dina said Juvenile Rule 6 of the Ohio Revised Code allowed Children Services to take custody of the children in a hearing Monday. The children cannot be placed with relatives under the rule, she said. She said she has been told by Children Services the children are in separate foster homes.