10-year-old misses school to care for 3 younger siblings, parents charged

ANTLER, N.D. (KVLY/Gray News) - A couple is facing child neglect charges after reportedly leaving their 10-year-old son at home to watch their 4-year-old, 1-year-old and a 6-month-old.

According to court documents, the Bottineau County Sheriff’s Office was called for a welfare check on March 27 after a school principal reported that the boy was missing from school to babysit his three younger siblings.

While deputies were on their way to the home, they called the child’s parents, Jared and Haley Jones, but the calls went straight to voicemail.

The 10-year-old told another officer that he was left to watch his siblings and could not call his mother because her phone was “out of minutes.” The child said the only way they could Haley Jones was through Facebook Messenger.

The boy brought the 4-year-old and 1-year-old to the door with him, but left the 6-month-old baby alone in their crib.

According to court documents, the boy ed Jared Jones on Facebook Messenger and let him have a video call with a deputy. Jared Jones said that he thought it would be fine for the boy to watch his siblings while he was “at work for a few hours”.

The deputy informed the man that it was not OK for the boy to miss school to do this. Jared Jones said he would return when he was done at work and ended the video call.

While waiting for the parents to arrive, deputies learned that Jared Jones had warrants out of Stark County, Grand Forks and Fargo.

The Stark County warrant was extraditable for failure to appear on multiple charges, including fleeing a peace officer, driving under revocation, possession of a controlled substance, possession of Marijuana less than half an ounce and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Haley Jones arrived on the scene a short time later and allowed officials to enter the home.

According to court documents, deputies found that the house was filled with garbage and animal feces, including a cat box that was “overflowing” with cat feces. There was more garbage and food waste over the countertops in the kitchen, along with an abundance of flies and other insects in the home.

The crib, which the 6-month-old infant was in, was in the dining room and covered with insect feces and swarming with flies.

Officials also said the carpet in the house was covered with animal feces and urine stains, noting that some of the piles of feces had step marks on them, indicating they had been there for a while. There was feces smeared on the walls as well, along with a cabinet that had multiple dirty diapers on top of it.

Deputies walked into the living room where Haley Jones was allegedly crying and begged deputies not to take the children, saying that she would call out of work to start cleaning. She said that she had no other options for where the kids could stay, saying that everyone she knew was busy.

An official arranged for a relative to take the children. When she was told what was going to happen with the children, Haley Jones began to cry and said that she was too busy with nursing school to take care of the house. She agreed to start cleaning the residence.

Jared and Haley Jones are charged with felony child neglect.

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