Kentucky Father Locked Young Children In Basement Filled With Meth, Marijuana, Arrested

A father who locked his two children in the basement surrounded by meth and marijuana paraphernalia has been arrested.

According to the police, the man, identified as 31-year-old Austin Fuqua, was arrested Saturday morning after deputies responded to his home at the 4900 block of Cambridge Drive, Owensboro, Kentucky, to conduct a welfare check on his children.

The children, reported to be 2 and 3 years old, were found locked in the basement of the house that was bestrewn with dangerous substances which included methamphetamine and marijuana paraphernalia.

The children were unsupervised and trapped inside the basement as the doors were locked. The officers said the children had poor hygiene. It was not revealed where the mother of the children was.

Fuqua was charged with two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, two counts of endangering the welfare of a minor, two counts of unlawful imprisonments, two counts of criminal abuse, along with drug possession charges. He was being held at Daviess County Detention Center.

A $100,000 bond was set on him.

In a similar incident, a mother from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was charged with chronic neglect of a child after her 3-month-old son was found dead due to malnutrition in their home. His body was found dehydrated and thin as a rake. The officers also found burns and bruises on his body. Autopsy results revealed that the infant weighed just seven pounds when he was found dead. The mother, identified as 32-year-old Shantoria Williams, was held in Milwaukee County Jail and her bail was set at $5,000.

In another incident, a toddler was left unsupervised, which resulted in the death of the child who drowned in the backyard pool of their home in Glendale, Arizona. When the Glendale Fire Department arrived at the home, they found the father performing CPR on his two-year-old daughter. She was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was later pronounced dead. The incident is believed to have occurred when the mother went inside the house, leaving the kids under the father’s supervision who at the moment was busy doing some home renovation work.