DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines mother is facing felony charges after being accused of leaving her two young children home alone and without food or water last week.
Twenty-four-year-old Juawar Kallo was booked into the Polk County Jail Tuesday on two counts of neglect or abandonment of a dependent person. She bonded out of jail Wednesday.
According to court documents, Kallo left her two-year-old daughter and five-year-old son alone in an apartment in the 6800 block of Chaffee Road on the morning of June 14th.
No plans were made to have someone look after the children and they were left without food or water. The complaint also says the children had been known to get out of the apartment while not supervised and wander around.
“Our kids in our community are our most precious cargo and they do say it takes a village and this is a great example of neighbors being attentive and doing the right thing. And reaching out to the police when they see something that just doesn’t look right. What we found inside that house it was, the conditions weren’t safe for children to be in there alone. There really wasn’t a lick of food in there and one of our officers actually went to McDonald’s, reached in their own pocket to get the kids some food,” Des Moines Police Sergeant Paul Parizek said.
The police were called just over two hours after Kallo left, and the children were taken into DHS custody around 1:00 p.m.
The complaint says despite being notified that her children were in the care of DHS, Kallo did not contact them about the kids until the following day.
Neglect or abandonment of a dependent person is a Class C felony and carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.