Children found home alone

Drug addicts often neglect children, officials say, but leaving them all alone is uncommon.

“Usually the kids are over at the neighbor’s house,” said Spokane police Detective John Willard, whose investigations generally focus on drug-endangered children. Or drug users leave their kids with someone and don’t come back for a couple days – or sometimes weeks.

But on Thursday, police and child social workers found three children, ages 4, 3 and 1 1/2 years old, by themselves at 1411 W. 10th Ave., officials said.

Jennifer Rigutto, the mother of the 4-year-old boy and 1 1/2-year-old girl, was booked into Spokane County Jail on three counts of child endangerment and one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, police said. Her boyfriend, 30-year-old Michael S. Perry, who also lives at the home and recently got custody of his 3-year-old son, will face the same charges. He remains at large.

Rigutto claims she left all three children in the care of her ex-husband, William Shad Smith, while she and Perry went gambling about 5 a.m. Thursday, said Spokane police Officer Bill Hager.

Smith, 35, was arrested about 6 p.m. Thursday while trying to board an STA bus in the 1400 block of West 10th Avenue. He was booked into Spokane County Jail on suspicion of three counts of second-degree child abandonment.

Police first learned of the children’s situation about 8:45 a.m., Hager said, when one of the children called 911 and said, “Mommy and Daddy go bye-bye,” which prompted the police response.

Child Protective Services was right behind law enforcement, Hager said: A social worker had called the home to make plans for a visit, and a child had answered. An adult was apparently unavailable.

While officers were retrieving baby clothes from the master bedroom, they found methamphetamine and called for a search warrant, police said.

Rigutto, 34, arrived while police were waiting to enter the home.

“Are my children OK?” Rigutto asked the police. One of the officers standing on her porch replied, “They are now because they’re in custody.”

Rigutto was adamant she didn’t leave the children alone, “never, never,” she said as police put her in the back of a patrol car.

Although Department of Social and Health Services spokeswoman Kathy Spears couldn’t comment about any investigation associated with Rigutto’s address, CPS caseworkers told police they had an active case on Perry’s son, whom neighbors called “J.J.”

Hager said the state agency was attempting to arrange a time to see the boy and find out how he was adapting to his new environment.

Police who searched the 1950s-era home in the southwest area of Spokane said its cleanliness was what they’d expect of drug addicts.

“There wasn’t rotting food, but it wasn’t clean,” Willard said. “I’ve been in houses where you come out every five to 10 minutes so you can breathe. It was filthy, not terrible.”

Filthy homes are typical in child neglect cases.

Spokane police Lt. Darrell Toombs said the house stunk from unwashed laundry, trash was so littered throughout the home it was difficult to walk through, and the place looked like it hadn’t been swept in weeks.

But perhaps the saddest sight for police was the food thawing in front of the refrigerator. Frozen vegetables, a horseshoe-shaped piece of sausage and a chunk of cheese had apparently been pulled out of the freezer by one of the children.

The three kids, however, appeared to be healthy when they were taken into protective custody, police said.

According to Washington court records, Rigutto has no criminal convictions.

Her neighbors weren’t surprised by Thursday morning’s commotion. As recently as last week, one neighbor had called police out of concern for the children.

“We called about one of the little boys screaming in the backyard in distress,” said Renee Duncan, whose mother lives in a neighboring home. The police came about 1 1/2 hours later, but no one was arrested.

Despite that incident, Duncan didn’t think Rigutto was leaving the children home alone.

Debbie Lipp, who has lived next door to Rigutto for five years, said “the kids always were clean, looked healthy and seemed happy,” when she saw them. “That totally shocked me to hear she’d left them home alone. I would never think she would intentionally do that.”

But Duncan’s concerns had more to do with the children’s home environment. She has been calling police about possible drug deals at the home ever since Rigutto moved in seven years ago.

“People come and go all the time,” Duncan said, adding that it was too bad. “Her mom bought her that house to help her get off drugs.”