Parents arrested after child falsely reports dad as dead
Jackson Alexis and Roldy Noel are charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children.
A young girl called 911 Saturday to report that her father was dead. Now both her parents are facing felony child endangerment charges.
Jackson Alexis, 40, and Roldy Noel, 27, both of Charleroi, are each charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children after police described their home as being in deplorable condition when they responded to the emergency call.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, Charleroi Regional Police were called to 521 McKean Ave. around 5:30 p.m. Saturday after a young girl called 911 and said her father had died.
When officers arrived, they knocked on the front door but received no answer, the affidavit states. A small child then came onto a balcony at the rear of the residence and told police she had called 911 and repeated that her father was dead, according to the complaint.
Police followed the child into the apartment at 515 Rear McKean Ave., where she led them to a bedroom. There, officers found the girl’s father, identified as Alexis, lying face down on a mattress on the floor. He was unconscious but breathing, according to the affidavit.
Inside the room were Alexis’ infant son and his daughter. Officers noted that both children were not properly dressed for the cold weather. The children were not positively identified until hours later when their mother arrived at the police station.
While waiting for EMS, Alexis told officers he had fallen while reaching for something for his son. He said he had recently learned his father was dying and that he was experiencing chest pain. Police later determined Alexis is not a U.S. citizen and noted they had difficulty communicating with him.
As EMS treated Alexis, officers checked the apartment and documented what they described as unsafe living conditions.
While police were inside, the girl exited the bedroom and urinated into a bucket, officers wrote, noting there was no functioning plumbing.
Officers reported the residence had no running water, an unusable toilet and a shower filled with brown water. Garbage was piled in a corner of the home, dirty dishes were stacked in the sink and a strong odor of trash filled the apartment. The only clean room observed was the child’s bedroom, police said.
Alexis was transported to Penn Highlands Mon Valley for evaluation. The children were taken into protective custody and brought to the police station.
Police said they attempted to contact Washington County Children and Youth Ser- vices for assistance and asked a 911 operator to reach the on-call CYS agent.
After waiting about 90 minutes without a response, officers called 911 again and were connected with CYS Supervisor Tanisha Brown. Brown told police she had not been informed of the situation and that a ChildLine report had not been made because the children had not yet been identified. She said CYS would not be responding at that time.
Officers initially had difficulty locating the children’s mother. According to police, the girl said her mother worked at a Walmart in Washington, but officers had trouble finding her because the child provided the wrong name.
Authorities later located her with assistance from the Haitian Resource Center in Charleroi. She was identified as Noel.
Noel confirmed the children’s identities and their home address. She admitted to police that there was no running water in the apartment.
Because CYS declined to take custody at that time and police were handling a high call volume, the children were released to their mother.
Alexis was taken to jail Sunday. Magisterial District Judge Josh Kanalis denied his bail after it was determined he is not a U.S. citizen and is unemployed. Alexis remains in the Washington County jail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. March 5 before Magisterial District Judge Eric Porter.
Noel was arrested Tuesday and remains in Washington County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bond. Her hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. March 5.
