The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Couple left 2 children home alone, police say
MIDDLETOWN >> A young city couple was charged with two felonies this week after police say they left two young children alone for nearly 90 minutes to get a workout in at the gym.
Police were called to the 7000 block of Town Place Drive at 10:33 p.m. Feb. 2 after an person called 911 to say a small child had been yelling for its mother for 45 minutes and woke him up, adding “it was terrifying to hear,” according to the arrest report.
When officers arrived, they knocked on the door for 45 minutes to no avail and didn’t hear a child screaming from within, police said.
At 11:23 p.m., Jesse and Alyssa Hatcher, both 23, walked into the hallway wearing their workout clothes while police were having a building manager try to gain access to the apartment, according to the report. When asked where her chil-
dren were, “Alyssa Hatcher seemed bothered by the question and said, ‘They’re asleep,’” adding that she and Jesse Hatcher had gone to the gym inside the complex and “weren’t gone that long,” according to the report.
Once inside, officers found a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old asleep in their parents’ bed.
Jesse Hatcher reportedly told police they had left at 10 p.m. Neither “seemed remorseful or concerned” when officers told them it was 11:26 p.m. and they had left their children alone for 86 minutes, police said.
Jesse Hatcher then admitted they had left their children alone in the past for about 20 minutes without a problem, according to the report.
Authorities, who reported the alleged neglect to the state Department of Children and Families, said the couple then told them they understood their mistake, it was irresponsible and they wouldn’t do it again, according to the report.
Both were charged with two counts of risk of injury to a minor, a felony, on March 26 after turning themselves in on outstanding warrants. They were released on $5,000 bail each and are due at Superior Court in Middletown April 7.