Woman arrested after kids left home for hours

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police report a North Bruce Street woman was arrested on charges of child endangering Saturday after police discovered her 6- and 4-year-old children had been left home alone for several hours.

Reports said police were called about 8:30 p.m. to the woman’s East Side home and found the children, who reports said looked to be scared and were crying. The children had a cellphone, but their mother, Devone Kitchen, 25, would not answer.

Reports said the father of the children is incarcerated and the Mahoning County Children Services Board was notified.

A short time after police arrived, Kitchen came home, reports said. Reports said Kitchen told police she left after receiving a call earlier in the day from someone called “Chuckie,” who said her brother had been shot.

Reports said Kitchen left with a friend to look for the brother but did not take her kids because she did not want them to see her brother’s body, reports said.

Kitchen allowed police to check her cellphone and it showed 13 calls within four hours from the phone the children had, but no calls from the other person.

When she was told she was being arrested, she screamed that she was going to be killed and asked someone to record it, but she did not resist, reports said.

A friend said she picked up Kitchen to look for her brother but also said they went to the store for awhile.

The CSB took custody of the children because there were no relatives to take them, reports said.