Trending
NEWTON TOWNSHIP -- A call to Trumbull County Sheriff's Office deputies about a "man with a gun" led them to discover the suspects' children, who deputies said were victims of neglect.
A 2-month-old was described by paramedics as being underweight with an apparently "concave" portion of its skull, which is consistent with malnutrition, the police report states.
Alicia Budreaux, 32, and Patrick Johnson, 33, both of Kings Drive SW, Newton Township, are in the Trumbull County jail facing several charges.
Both have made initial appearances before a judge in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Court records show Budreaux is facing one count of third-degree felony child endangering and four misdemeanor charges of child endangering. She was arrested again Friday after being released on bond three days prior to being picked up on the felony child endangerment charge, court and jail records show.
Johnson faces charges of first-degree felony aggravated robbery, first-degree felony aggravated burglary, third-degree felony child endangering; and four counts of misdemeanor child endangering, court records state.
He remains at the county jail on a $50,000 bond after his attorney requested the bond be lowered from the $100,000 bond set in Newton Falls Municipal Court.
The pair pleaded not guilty at their respective arraignments before Judge Andrew D. Logan. They appeared in court for a hearing Tuesday as they await their next hearing later this month.
They were named in a grand jury indictment Feb. 1. Johnson was no-billed on a misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing and Budreaux's charges were dropped for second-degree aggravated burglary and second-degree complicity to aggravated robbery charges.
All of the dropped charges are in relation to the initial incident.
'MAN WITH GUN' CALL
The 911 caller reported a man with a gun was at home in the sixth block of Kings Drive SW in Newton Township the night of Dec. 19.
Deputies arrived and spoke to a witness who told them a man, later identified as Patrick Johnson, was holding his family hostage inside the residence, according to a police report from the sheriff's office.
Deputy Austin Eckenrod was advised by the witness that Johnson was looking through the window pointing a firearm in Eckenrod's direction. The deputy reported that he quickly moved out of the window's sight and approached the front door of the home, where he called out for the suspect.
Family members of the witness began exiting the front door with Johnson trailing behind them. As Eckenrod instructed Johnson at gunpoint to get on the ground, the suspect continued down the stairs, eventually falling as the deputy then moved to place him in handcuffs.
Using what the deputy described as "objectively reasonable force," the report states Eckenrod restrained the non-compliant suspect with the help of the witness and a relative of his, the report states.
Johnson was detained, but refused to answer questions about what happened. Lordstown police arrived to assist and located an unregistered firearm on the property.
Budreaux, Johnson's live-in girlfriend, was detained as she was waiting in an SUV parked outside the residence.
As more law enforcement arrived, deputies were able to collect statements from witnesses and obtained video surveillance of the incident that was sent to the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office detective bureau.
A female resident of the home told police Johnson and Budreaux came over to play video games. But while the three of them sat in the living room, she said the initial witness to whom deputies spoke kicked the pair out of the home.
When the female resident asked why, she said the initial witness told her Johnson had struck Budreaux.
The two left, but she said they later returned to the home and this time, Johnson came armed and began pointing the gun at the initial witness, the report states.
The female resident said she told Johnson, "Not here, I have babies," to which she said Johnson said to her, "Hey you shut the (expletive) up." She then left the room to call 911.
The initial witness, the report states, was able to calm down momentarily Johnson as the two talked about purchasing a puppy. But the female resident said Johnson became upset when the initial witness told him they couldn't purchase one until after the New Year.
Johnson approached two juveniles in the home and demanded they give him a dog, going as far as to pull his gun out demanding for them to either "get him a dog" or he would "shoot everyone," the report states.
As Budreaux gave her statement to deputies, she said after being kicked out of the home, she and Johnson went to their home on the same street where she said he retrieved a handgun.
Budreaux said Johnson told her he wanted to teach the witness who kicked them out of the home "a lesson," because he's protective of her. Budreaux then was arrested and instructed she was going to jail for complicity to aggravated robbery and complicity to aggravated burglary.
She asked deputies "Who is going to watch my kids?" saying they were home alone, which led to a wellness check.
WELLNESS CHECK
Deputy John Hughes arrived at the home on Kings Drive to check on the two children.
Later, deputies noted that the front door of the home had no functioning door knob and was secured only by a padlock out of reach of the children inside, the report states.
Hughes spotted a running vehicle in the driveway near two juveniles who told them their mother, who is the female resident from the initial incident, was inside with the two children ages 7 years and 2 months.
She allowed Hughes inside while carrying an infant girl wrapped in a blanket. She told the deputy that the children had been home alone for at least an hour while Johnson and Budreaux were at their home.
The deputy observed "purplish" or "blue discoloration" they said was "consistent with being cold" on the infant girl's leg. The woman remarked that when she arrived at the home, she found both children in a rear bedroom of the trailer with the infant lying unstrapped in a car seat near the bed wearing only a diaper.
She told police she didn't know the children's names or ages, but said the infant looked small for her age, and telling deputies the mother told her she feeds the baby a mix of half water and half milk. Authorities later were advised it was not an "appropriate formula" mixture for the infant, the report states.
Deputy Hughes, while following the 7-year-old boy to a room in the home, discovered a box of .9 mm ammunition, a BB gun, several plastic bags allegedly containing marijuana, and a "glass smoking device with burn marks," that was collected for evidence.
The Newton Falls Fire Department responded to the home of the two children to render aid, but Hughes advised the infant should be taken to Akron Children's Hospital in Boardman. Paramedics later advised the youngest child appeared to be "underweight and malnourished," the report states.
Deputies reached out to the children's grandmother, who also stays at an address on Kings Drive, who agreed to take custody of the children after being given consent by Budreaux.
Trumbull County Children Services was advised the children could stay with the grandmother until the agency followed up in the morning with them.