A mother is accused of leaving her three children unattended and duct taping the room shut that the children were in. Tierami Beverly faces three charges of felony child abuse or neglect.
Around 1:56 p.m. on January 26, a Las Vegas Metro officer responded to the 8400 block of West Charleston in response to a report of three juveniles left unattended in an apartment, with the bedroom door duct taped shut.
According to the report, the officer met with a complex maintenance worker who said he’d received a call from another unit, reporting a leak coming from the apartment above. When the worker knocked on the apartment in question, no one answered. Due to the issue coming from that unit, he entered, working to determine the source of the leak.
The worker told police when he walked inside, he heard the children locked in the bedroom and noticed the master, which had an attached bathroom, was duct taped shut. The report describes the black tape stretching all the way across the door handle, keeping it from being opened from the inside.
Police say the worker took photos of the tape before entering. Upon opening the door, he discovered three unattended children inside the room, with the bathtub overflowing.
The property manager contacted the unit’s tenant, identified as Beverly. She reportedly told the manager she was at the store and would return soon.
According to the report, the worker said a 1-year-old child was sleeping on the wet floor and that it took them “multiple minutes” to wake the toddler.
Officers on scene observed a red Mazda arrive, driven by Beverly. She confirmed to police she lived inside the unit and has three children. She also told them she’d left around 1 p.m., and that her mother was supposed to be watching the kids. Police say Beverly continued to tell them this but that her story did not make sense.
Beverly was asked several times when she last saw her mother, and the report says she told police in the morning but that she’d left her home in the afternoon.
An officer asked Beverly when the kids last ate, to which she replied the evening of January 25.
During an interview with police, the report says Beverly told officers she fought with her mother the night of January 25. Her mother then told her she wouldn’t come over and watch the children on January 26.
Beverly was questioned about the duct tape on the door. The mother reportedly needed to go to the store but didn’t want to wake her sleeping children and take them. She then told police she closed her bedroom door, then locked and duct taped it to make sure the kids wouldn’t go outside. The report says Beverly “didn’t plan on being gone long.”
The mother told police she’d never done something like this before and that she was grappling with “tough times due to being a single mom of three and working three jobs.” She said she didn’t have anyone to help with the kids.
Officers say they observed the children did not have clothing on. According to the report, all three were in diapers that looked “completely full.” One child reportedly appeared to have a bruise on the left side of his chest, and one was wet and appeared to be laying in the water. They say the children were left unattended for an “unknown amount of time.”
As far as the apartment is concerned, police detailed the floor of the entire room was soaking wet due to the overflowing bathtub. They say the apartment, as a whole, was covered in trash. Officers also could not locate any of the children’s clothing, the report says.
Beverly was booked into the Clark County Detention Center. A preliminary hearing is set for May 10.
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