County jury expected to begin deliberations in child endangerment trial for city parents

The Monessen father testified he had not seen the children.

By RICH CHOLODOFSKY
TribLive

One of two Monessen parents charged with endangering their 2-year-old twins told a jury Wednesday he had not seen his children on the day they were found by police.

The children were trapped in an upstairs bedroom surrounded in squalor, according to Westmoreland County prosecutors.

Jerimiah Roberts, 32, testified he was confined to the first-floor of his townhouse following what he said was a major foot injury. He said it left him on crutches and in a haze from pain medication and muscle relaxers.

Police claim he and his paramour failed to properly care for their two youngest children.

Testimony in the trial was completed Wednesday. Attorneys are expected to make closing arguments to jurors when the trial reconvenes Thursday morning.

Roberts and his now former girlfriend, Felicia Dugan, 31, are each charged with two counts of child endangerment.

Police said during a welfare check conducted on June 10, 2024, they found the children trapped in a bedroom, naked, covered in dirt with feces, trash and food spread over the floor and walls.

Roberts testified that he was not aware of the conditions in which his children were found.

“My child care was limited because of my injuries,” Roberts said.

He said his injury, suffered 10 days earlier, required him to use crutches and to remain on the home’s first floor. He said on the day of the welfare check he left home for a doctor’s appointment at 11 a.m. and did not return for about three hours.

Dugan did not testify. Prosecutors contend Dugan’s mother visited the home that morning and alerted police about the situation. Monessen police responded about five hours later and were confronted by Roberts at the front door.

Monessen police Sgt. Chris Gray testified Roberts initially told officers the children were not home. Roberts testified he believed police had asked about the whereabouts of his two older children who were visiting a relative.

Under questioning from Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Ranger, Roberts admitted he was mobile enough to use stairs to get to the home’s two bathrooms, one upstairs and another in the basement.

Roberts told the prosecutors he last saw his children on the night of June 9.

He testified he and Dugan were parents to four children and had been in a relationship for 14 years. They are no longer together, he told jurors.

Gray testified he found the children on a bed with no sheets and covered in dried feces. Piles of human waste, trash and food were littered across the floor and smeared on walls. A baby gate trapped the children in the insect-ridden bedroom, he said.

Gray said the conditions were similar to those from a video recorded about five hours earlier by Dugan’s mother and played for jurors earlier in the trial.

“I told (Dugan) the children needed to come out of there and may have said they need a bath,” Gray testified.

Prosecutors said Dugan complied, bathed the children and accompanied them as they were taken to a local hospital to be examined. Doctors found the children to be healthy and uninjured.