4-year-old found at intersection nearly naked and running

A Pahrump couple faces child neglect and abuse charges after their 4-year-old son was allegedly found running in the roadway.

According to a Nye County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, Deputy Isaac Champlin was dispatched to the intersection of North Barney Street and West Our Road at approximately 2:55 p.m., on Saturday, March 4 after someone reported that a black boy wearing little clothing and no shoes was running eastbound on Our Road toward Barney Street.

Good Samaritans protect child

“Upon arrival, I observed a black male juvenile wearing nothing but a shirt,” Champlin said in the report. “The juvenile was approximately 20-feet from Barney Street. The reporting party and another adult male were keeping the juvenile from running into the roadway. I spoke with both adult males who stated that this is a frequent problem with this juvenile. They have seen him in the roadway unaccompanied on multiple occasions. The reporting party gave me a description of the house that the juvenile resides at.”

Parents located, identified

After arriving at the boy’s home, Champlin said he noticed a large amount of trash strewn about the front yard along with a trailer and small red sedan filled with trash.

Champlin then made contact with the mother of the missing juvenile, who was identified as Shatiana Thomas.

“Shatiana stated she was aware that her son was missing, but her husband, identified as Kevin Armstrong, was out looking for him,” according to the report. “Kevin then exited the home shortly after I made contact with Shatiana. Kevin stated that he had looked for his son but could not find him. Neither Kevin nor Shatiana contacted the Nye County Sheriff’s Office to report the child as missing.”

State agency summoned

Katey Maloney, from the Nevada Division of Child and Family Services, responded to the scene to help inspect the residence to ensure the conditions were safe and habitable for the boy and the seven additional children who reportedly reside there.

Home inspection

“Upon entering the residence, I smelled trash and rotting, sour food emitting from every portion of the residence,” Champlin’s report stated. “The entirety of the residence was unlivable and covered in numerous amounts of trash and sour food.”

Champlin stated that the home’s flooring was covered in an unknown substance causing large portions of the carpet to be matted and destroyed.

“There were also holes in the walls throughout the residence with exposed wiring and electrical components,” he noted. “There was a total of four broken windows throughout the residence. The back patio was covered in a large amount of broken glass from the windows and numerous broken glass bottles.”

Residence deemed unlivable

At the conclusion of the home inspection, Maloney determined that house was unsafe and too hazardous for the children to be living in, thus she removed all eight children from the residence due to the living conditions.

Following Champlin’s initial investigation, Thomas and Armstrong were both taken into custody and were charged with eight counts each of alleged child abuse, neglect and endangerment for allegedly subjecting their eight juvenile children to poor and hazardous living conditions that could negatively impact their physical and mental well-being, as well as their apparent inability to monitor their children causing their 4-year-old to consistently wander off into the roadway, the report concluded.

Bail amount was set at $80,000 each.

Contact reporter Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com. On Twitter: @pvtimes