MCDOWELL, Ky. (WMDJ) — A Floyd County couple is facing multiple felony charges after investigators found four children allegedly being locked inside a bedroom for extended periods of time.
Zachery Kyle Brown, 35, and Cassandra Leshay Brooke Jones-Cooley, 27, were arrested Friday after deputies accompanied a Kentucky Department for Protection and Permanency social worker to their Browns Branch home near McDowell.
According to an arrest citation, the children, ages 3 to 10, told investigators they were locked in a bedroom for long periods and could not leave, even to use the bathroom. Authorities said the room had a chain lock on the outside, a urine-soaked mattress on the floor, no working light and a covered window. The children were also described as dirty, unkempt and smelling of urine.
The citation states the couple admitted they sometimes locked the children in the room as discipline. Investigators also reported finding evidence of drug use inside the home.
The children were placed in protective custody. Brown and Jones-Cooley were each charged with four counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12 and four counts of second-degree wanton endangerment.
