Spring Hill, FL – Melissa Ann Crossman, 19, has two kids, no child safety locks, and not enough sense. Last Thursday afternoon, Crossman’s three year old son was found wandering outside, wearing only a diaper. The toddler was playing with the live electrical wires that run to and from the air conditioning unit at his home.  Where was Mommy?  Well, she’d taken a painkiller and gone to sleep, that’s where. Â
I know, right? Are you surprised? I’m totally surprised.
Deputies responded to the neighbor’s call and found the front door of the house standing partway open and the little boy with live electrical wires in his hands.  On entering the house, Melissa Crossman was found sound asleep, crashed out under a blanket in a bedroom. According to a Hernando County Sheriff’s Office report, her one-year-old daughter was also asleep in the bedroom.
Melissa was so zonked that a sheriff’s deputy had to wake her up. When they finally got her roused and told her what had happened, Melissa Crossman just said “Ah, he got out of the front door again.” Apparently it was common practice for Crossman to take naps and leave her son unattended.
A Department of Children and Families caseworker found that the little boy’s bed was just a mattress on the floor. The baby girl’s crib had a filthy mattress and no sheets. The report goes on to list “poisonous chemicals and cleaners” where the children could get to them, and weird liquids on the bathroom floor. There were dirty dishes throughout the house, and all of the smoke alarms were disabled with bare wires hanging out of them.
Bad, right? Well, apparently Grandma didn’t think so, because guess what? She lives there too. Diane Lashley, the grandmother, told deputies that none of the child safety latches worked, and they hadn’t bothered to replace them. Apparently they hadn’t bothered to clean, either.
The little boy had no problem showing deputies how to unbolt the door, but no higher locks or other safety measures to keep him inside were in place. The toddler had a number of scrapes and bruises, but it wasn’t clear whether the child had been abused or if he got all banged up ridin’ dirty in the ‘hood. DCF got on the stick and removed both children from the home, since obviously neither Mommy or Grandma has a lick of sense or a mop.
Crossman was arrested on a charge of child neglect. She was booked into the Hernando County Jail, where it looks like she might still be sitting on $1000 bond.
SoUncool hit this topic in our forums – thanks!
Tags: Child Endangerment, Child Neglect, Florida
