An Edinburgh mother was found guilty of neglect and was sentenced to probation.
Cheyanne V. Meredith, 22, was found guilty of a misdemeanor charge of neglect in a bench trial in Johnson Circuit Court last month.
She was sentenced to one year on probation and required to follow all requirements from the Indiana Department of Child Services, according to court records. Whether she has custody of her children was not clear.
Meredith was charged last year with a felony count of neglect after a months-long investigation by Edinburgh police.
A school counselor at East Side Elementary School called police last year, concerned about Meredith’s then-5-year-old son. The boy had injuries to his face, and on follow-up visits by police, officers found he was dirty and his hair had not been washed, which school officials said was normal for the boy, according to police reports.
Officers went to the boy’s home and found animal urine and feces on the floor, mold on the boy’s mattress and dirty dishes and clothes all over the floor, the report said.
The boy also was always hungry at school, and school staff said he would dive to the floor to get food dropped by classmates. The school sent the boy home with clothing at one point and never saw him wear them, and school staff would routinely wash his coat at school, the report said.
The boy also told school staff he would get up at night to feed his baby sister, the report said. At the time, doctors at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health had said the baby was underweight and wasn’t being fed, the report said.
Relatives that Meredith and the children were staying with at the time told investigators she rarely bathed the children or fed the baby, and would often sneak out to be with her boyfriend, the report said.
