MASON CITY – Mason City police intervened in a possibly dangerous situation where 3 children were locked in a room that wasn’t much better than a toilet as DHS employees refused to help.
Mason City police tell NIT that on August 30, 2016, at 12:43 AM, officers were dispatched to 151 7th Street SW to do a welfare check on 4 children. Neglect and unsanitary issues were alleged. Officers responded and witnessed a putrid odor while standing outside the house. Officers verified there were 3 young children locked in a small bedroom with little ventilation. The children had allegedly been locked in the room for a long time, apparently without access to a bathroom or anyone changing their diapers. Suspected human feces was evident throughout the small room on the floors and walls. A 4th, youngest child was in a playpen in a different room in the house.
Police say the mother of the children, 25-year-old Alexis Rae Martinez, was home and cooperative.
Officers contacted Department of Human Services (DHS) from the scene. DHS employees declined to respond. Officers refused to allow the children to remain there. Officers contacted family relatives and made arrangements to have the children go to a relative’s residence until DHS would get involved and oversee decisions on long-term living arrangements. Police also notified the City rental inspector later that morning. The house was white-tagged at approximately 9:30 AM that same morning due to health and safety issues.
County records show the house is owned by Dan and Jill Nonnweiler.
The investigating officer applied for an arrest warrant for Martinez after completing the investigation and that application was granted by a judge. Martinez was arrested on September 12, 2016 for three counts of Neglect or Abandonment of a Dependent Person (Class C Felonies) stemming from the incident.
Martinez remains held in the Cerro Gordo county jail at this time on $30,000 cash bond (10%) as she awaits a court date.
DHS has guidelines. Putrid households are not on the list. Change the laws do not blame DHS their hands are tied
dhs sucks sometimes but we need them the police was right awesome thumbs up for m.c. police dept
BLUE LIVES KNOW, LITTLE LIVES MATTER
Dhs sucks d*ck and wouldn’t do shit for my brother’s, when they needed it, so why would they do shit for anyone else?! Makes me sick!!!! Glad those babies are out of there!! Why do ppl reproduce?!
What is wrong with dhs that they don’t get involved when the police call them? I know they don’t do anything when regular people call concerned about children but come on it was the police calling! The system makes me sick!
the kids were the wrong color for DHS to care.
The property owner should be held accountable, to often they rent to anybody and don’t have a clue what is going on.
Only an idiot would want to punish someone not related to the crime. The “Mom” and the DHS/CPS employees should be sharing a cell, those are the only people accountable for this abuse. Sounds like the Dad should have been given custody. Guess she spent her child support and food stamps on meth.
I hope her jail cell is covered in feces.
I heard this call. Officers paged on call dhs at approximately 1am.
The children were deemed safe for the night with family and dhs was going to be referred to the case. This is not a case of dhs refusing to help. Your headlines are click bait and tacky.
I have a whole lot of complaints about dhs, and the way things are sometimes handled. This is not one of them.
Wrong. My “headline” is straight from the police. They told me what happened. Maybe you work for DHS or are an apologist for them?
No, I’ve already stated I’m not a fan of dhs. Dhs is there to protect the people that can’t speak for themselves. Dhs very much abuses their power, and a lot of the cases are resolved in a matter that does not benefit the children.
I think that your headline is false. Dhs has a right to not respond at 1am for kids when police already had care set up for the kids. There was no charge, and no court order.
It’s called “investigation.”
Officers didn’t arrest her the same night for neglecting her children. Are you going to say police refused to do their jobs too?
Dhs followed up with the matter, and the children were placed in care of the state when deemed “in need of assistance.”
Your headline would have been sufficient with “Children removed from feces covered room by police after welfare check.”
Police set up care for the kids AFTER DHS refused to respond.
You’re a f*cking idiot
OK..who or what would sleep with this thing in the first place..and produce 4 children.Pray for the children !
Thank you MC police.
She makes the case for mandatory sterilization, unfortunately. I hope her children are never returned to her, she never makes bail, and she spends a lot of time in a prison with a maximum sentence around mothers who actually miss their kids.
Looks like a methhead.
Bury this worthless low life alive in feces! Someone this sick who could do this to innocent children will never offer anything good to anyone! Who knows if her family is any better-I doubt it. Thank god for someone obviously turning her in and thank you to our police to saving them and locking her up!
A perfect example of government assistance being used to facilitate bad behavior. We allow it, and pay for it
25 years old, and 4 children that she can’t take care of, what a shame. Now, I’m going to assume that she is on all kinds of welfare/free money, so why the filthy living conditions. And lock your babies in a room so you don’t have to deal with them. It’s time to get your tubes tied.
Ty mason city police department…DHS is a farce agency and only works for those that don’t deserve it