A Philadelphia mother is accused of inflicting a cruel form of punishment by locking her four children in the basement for hours without food or access to a bathroom.
Firefighters responded to a residence in Kensington on Sunday afternoon after one of the children dialed 911 saying they were trapped, WPVI reported. A dramatic rescue ensued after firefighters entered the house through an upstairs window in order to reach the basement to free the kids- ages 9, 10, 12 and 13.
"When the kids came out, you could tell they were scared," neighbor Victoria Sipes told the station.
Philadelphia police determined the children were left in the locked basement for over 12 hours.
Their mother, 29-year-old Charnae Lee, told investigators she sent her children with their mattresses to the basement to discipline them but didn't know the basement door was locked, WPVI reported.
Lee was arrested later that day and charged with four counts of unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person.
A special victim's unit is now looking into Lee's past to see if there have been other incidents of alleged endangerment. Those who know Lee, however, said she would never harm her kids.
"It doesn't seem like her. It doesn't seem like her style," Sipes told WPVI. "I know that she's been going through a lot lately, but this is not something it would seem like she would do."
