Child Left Alone By Parents Boy, 4-1/2, Found Amid Filth While Wearing Only A Diaper

Police found a 4-1/2-year-old boy alone in a filthy Northeast Spokane home Sunday, abandoned in his crib wearing just a diaper.

The unidentified boy was unable to say his name or age, speaking just a few words, said police Sgt. Dan Torok.

He was taken into state custody.

The boy was left alone Sunday afternoon in a house littered with empty whiskey bottles and rotting food when his father went to Holy Family Hospital. The man told a hospital social worker that he was trying to detoxify at home but had been overcome with the shakes, Torok said.

A hospital social worker alerted police about 3:40 p.m. that the boy was alone.

The boy’s mother returned to the house after police and Child Protective Services retrieved the boy.

The woman said she had gone to the store, then to a neighbor’s house to drink, Torok said.

The names and address of the parents were withheld, pending a CPS investigation. The report was also referred to police investigators.

The boy’s mother said her son was born prematurely, causing his lack of verbal development. She had been trying to get help for the boy, she told police.

“I’ve never run across a 4-1/2-year-old in diapers, not able to tell you his name,” said Torok, who responded to the call. “That’s no way for a child to live.”

Eric Warren, CPS area administrator, said state law forbids CPS workers from discussing specific cases.

Police officers and the Spokane County Prosecutor’s Office decide whether to file charges. “It’s always perplexing to me, how those decisions are made,” Warren said.

Last month, two women were charged with second-degree criminal mistreatment after police found three young children left alone in a downtown Spokane hotel.

Vanessa O. Lallashute, 40, and Naomee A. Lucei, 23, were taken into custody after police found Lallashute’s 3-year-old daughter and Lucei’s two children, ages 1 and 3, at the downtown Best Western.

The women have been barred from seeing the children, who are in foster care.

Lallashute’s daughter had previously suffered a head injury and has seizures as a result of physical abuse, according to court documents.

After he was taken into a foster home, pus-filled sores were found on Lucei’s 16-month-old son.

Lallashute remains in custody on a $2,500 bond. Lucei was released on her own recognizance.

A trial is scheduled for April 24.