A Portland woman has been charged with multiple counts of criminal mistreatment and child neglect following an incident in Southeast Portland last week.
According to court documents, officers responded to reports of a child wandering the streets around 7 p.m. on July 23, near the intersection of 162nd Avenue and Southeast Stark.
Officers spoke with witnesses who saw a 3-year-old child in diapers and pointed them to a nearby residence.
Officers attempted to communicate with a second-floor residence by loudly declaring their presence but received no response.
Another officer noticed a lady, subsequently identified as Chloe Alethia Barnes, 23, sprawled on the couch, her head back.
She awoke and invited officers into her apartment, where they discovered her other two-year-old boy sleeping in a bedroom.
Police say the fridge was open, food was on the floor, and the house had no power.
Barnes could not recall the last time her children ate, according to court filings.
Police discovered a torch lighter and a glass pipe near Barnes’ resting location.
Barnes later told police that she and her partner enjoy using meth, but she only does it when the children are in another room.
According to prosecutors, both of her children tested positive for methamphetamine exposure during urine tests.
Barnes was charged Thursday with four counts of criminal mistreatment and two counts of child neglect.
She was freed on recognizance on Thursday, according to court records, and she has no past criminal record.
She is set to be arraigned on an indictment on August 15.
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