6 kids found partially clothed, malnourished and alone in unsafe Baltimore rowhouse

Six children under age 10 were found on Monday alone, malnourished and partially clothed or naked living in an unsafe East Baltimore rowhouse.

Some of the children, ages 1, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9, were seen walking barefoot outside the house among broken glass scattered on the ground.

The younger children were wearing only socks and soiled diapers, police wrote in a report.

Police charged their mother, Teonna M. Brown, 34, with six counts of child neglect. She did not immediately return a message Tuesday.

Officers were called to the home in the 2900 block of East Monument Street by an employee of a cleanup crew who was working nearby and reported the children outside without clothes and unsupervised.

“The children appeared malnourished and displayed apparent signs consistent with neglect,” officers wrote.

The oldest child told police that her mother had left to go to the store.

While police were at the house, neighbors provided snacks to the children.

“Officers observed the children consume the food rapidly,” according to the police report.

Officers entered the home and found no readily available food or drinking water, they wrote. There was no electricity. Police wrote that an air conditioner had been provided to the family through a city assistance program, but there didn’t seem to be one on the premises.

There was little usable furniture and too little clothing and shoes for all six children, police wrote.

“Dog feces was observed throughout portions of the residence,” wrote officers, who found a small dog inside.

City services, including a building inspector, firefighters, Animal Control, Child Protective Services and housing department officials were called to the scene. Because of concerns about the gas line, the building inspector condemned the rowhouse.

The children were taken by ambulance to the pediatric unit of the Johns Hopkins Hospital while police contacted their mother.

She went to the hospital and was interviewed there by police. Officers wrote in their report that she told them she left the home on Monday morning for an appointment at a methadone treatment clinic. She told police she left the children under the supervision of a friend named Charles.

Charles didn’t want to stay at the house at first because it was too hot without air conditioning, but he finally agreed to babysit, she told police.

“Ms. Brown acknowledged that she left the residence without confirming that Charles had physically arrived at or entered the residence to assume supervision of the children,” officers wrote.

Police initially described the home as vacant but later said it was a rental property.

The children were turned over to Child Protective Services, except for the oldest child, who was picked up by a family member.

In Maryland, it is a crime to leave a child younger than 8 years old unattended or without the supervision of a reliable person who is at least 13.