GREENFIELD — Prosecutors are seeking charges against the New Palestine mother of a toddler found wandering her neighborhood alone.
Prosecutors filed a single charge of neglect, a Level 6 felony, against Angel Pennington, 21, 5186 W. Blue Bell Drive, Tuesday in Hancock County Superior Court I.
Pennington had not been arrested at press time Tuesday.
Late last month, Pennington’s daughter, 23 months, was found walking alone in the Gem Meadows subdivision in New Palestine.
Neighbors called 911 after seeing a child in the front yard of a home in the subdivision near the intersection of county roads 500W and 100S, where she was being jumped on aggressively by a dog, police said.
Police canvassed the area where she was found, hoping to find the little girl’s family out looking for her, officials said. As it turned out, the child was in her own front yard, but when police knocked, no one came to the door, so they moved on.
Sugar Creek Township firefighters posted a picture of the girl on Facebook with a plea for information while police continued to knock on doors in the neighborhood.
An officer returned to the area where the girl was found about an hour later and noticed a storm door was open; he called out, and Pennington eventually came to the door, police said.
Pennington told police she didn’t realize the girl was gone but said she believed she walked out of the home after being put down for a nap.
Pennington told police the girl must have climbed out of her crib and walked out of the home while Pennington was asleep on the couch, police said.
Pennington told officers she checked on her daughter at about 3:20 p.m. But that couldn’t have been true, as dispatchers received the call about the unattended child a half hour before that, police said.
A Level 6 felony carries a penalty of six months to two and a half years and up to $10,000 in fines.
