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WARREN -- A Warren mother has posted bond after her arrest on child endangering charges over the weekend when police found her children home alone.
Champ'ell Tatum, 32, of Belmont Avenue NE, posted a $2,500 bond set during an appearance in Warren Municipal Court Monday, where she also pleaded not guilty to two counts of third-degree child endangerment after being accused of leaving her kids home alone for seven hours.
Judge Patrica Knepp ordered that Tatum is to have no contact with her children until Trumbull County Children Services recommends they can resume having contact, court records show.
Police were called to Tatum's home in the 200 block of Belmont Avenue after a caller requested a welfare check, accusing Tatum of leaving her two small children, ages 1 and 2, alone. The caller also told police the children had bruises on them.
Police also were tipped off to Tatum's place of employment at a fast food restaurant on South Street SE, where officers went to question her and have her take them to her home to prove the allegations made against her.
Tatum was hesitant when asked where her children were and where she lived, but she eventually answered both questions, telling police her address and that her kids were at home, the police report states.
Tatum told police the children's father was at the home, but officers who already had been to the home remarked that no lights were on and there was no vehicle spotted at the residence.
The father didn't respond to calls from Tatum, but dispatchers received a call where he told them he was "out and about" with the kids.
However, after police followed Tatum to her home, they found the two children in a bedroom. One of them had a "black eye" along with "bruises on both arms and both legs," the report states.
Tatum told police that the children's father must have left when she left for work around 4 p.m., but when the father arrived, he disputed this, telling officers he had not been at the house that day nor did he have the children that day.
Tatum was placed under arrest and her children were taken to St. Joseph Warren Hospital to be evaluated as Children Services workers arranged for the children's grandmother to take custody of them.
The hospital said only one child had bruises and they were released into the custody of their grandmother, who said she could only house them until Monday.
The report states that afterward, children 's services will take custody and have them evaluated at Akron Children's Hospital in Boardman.