"I didn't want to be thought of as bad to (my baby)," the mother said in her July 2 statement to police. "I'm a good (mother), but it's not easy, especially when you're a teenager."
View full sizeExterior of 234 Oneida St., Fulton, where a malnourished toddler was found June 30. The toddler's parents -- Melissa Nichols, 17, and Jeremy Bailey, 22 -- were each charged with endangering the baby's welfare. Their apartment was on the first-floor rear of the building.Fulton, NY -- Armed with a search warrant, Fulton police entered an apartment filled ankle-high with trash in late June and told a 17-year-old mother to leave for awhile with her 19-month-old daughter.
Officers asked Melissa K. Nichols, of 234 Oneida St., Apt. 4, to grab the toddler’s clothes.
The toddler didn’t have any, Nichols said.
Toys? Couldn’t find any, she said.
Food? The refrigerator was bare, save for some butter and condiments.
That’s when authorities realized they had a case of child neglect, Investigator Michael Curtis said. The toddler was taken to a nearby house, where the Oswego County Department of Social Services took her into protective custody.
The police were at Nichols’ two-room apartment June 30 searching for stolen items from the vacant Nestle chocolate factory when they found the malnourished 19-month-old girl. Around her lay dirty dishes, clothes, beer cans and soiled diapers, Curtis said.
The girl’s father, Jeremy W. Bailey, 22, and eight teenage boys were playing video games in the two-room apartment when police arrived.
Bailey and all of the teen boys were suspected of burglarizing the chocolate factory June 29, Curtis said. None of the teenage boys were seen drinking, and no drugs were found, police said.
The 19-month-old girl, weighing 20 pounds, 8 ounces, was giggling and snuggling with her mother on the couch when police arrived. Investigator Aimee May, who is a mother herself, was shocked when she found out the girl’s age, considering how small she appeared. The average weight for a 19-month-old girl is about 25 pounds, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.
Melissa Nichols
Jeremy BaileyNichols and Bailey later told police they had not fed the baby for as long as two days at a time. They had spent the last of their monthly benefits — including about $1,500 in public assistance, rent subsidy and food stamps — more than a week before the raid, according to police statements.
Police said Nichols admitted to accidentally burning the child with a cigarette and then covering the sore with paper towel and tape because she didn’t have any medicine.
“I didn’t want to be thought of as bad to (my baby),” she said July 2 in her statement to police. “I’m a good (mother), but it’s not easy, especially when you’re a teenager, but I love my (baby) and I just want her back.”
Police said Nichols was protective of her child, and the toddler appeared in good spirits, despite being severely underweight. Had police not found her living in squalor, they would not likely have realized the level of neglect, Curtis said.
Nichols was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and assault, all misdemeanors. She was released and is receiving parental counseling while working to regain custody through Family Court, police said.
Bailey was charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child. He was sent to jail after his arrest Tuesday on $5,000 cash or $10,000 bond.
Bailey claimed he turned to stealing — including entering the Nestle factory and a gas station in Volney — to get money to feed his family, according to police statements. Bailey and eight teenagers were each charged in connection with the chocolate factory burglary June 30. He faces charges of felony burglary and grand larceny, among others.
Bailey was not charged in the gas station burglary, though one of his friends, Joseph Swatkowski, 16, faces felony charges. He was accused of stealing cigarettes and other items, authorities said.
Police recovered the stolen items from the Nestle factory at the apartment, Curtis said. The items included industrial circuit breakers, padlocks and signs that read: “Non-food contact.”
The burglars apparently skipped the high-end office equipment and expensive machinery, Curtis said. Authorities aren’t sure why, because none of the stolen items had any apparent value on the black market.
The couple and their toddler moved to Oswego County four months ago from Florida at the invitation of a friend, Curtis said. Within weeks, they were homeless on the streets of Fulton, the couple told police.
A friend helped them get assistance through the Oswego County Department of Social Services, Nichols said. They got about $500 a month for rent, plus roughly $17 a day in food stamps, the couple said. Nichols also got $626 a month from social services in Florida. They did not get benefits from the WIC program, she said.
Oswego County Social Services Commissioner Frances Lanigan declined comment, noting it was against the law to comment on specific cases due to confidentiality.
The family reached out to non-profits for help. Their apartment is across the street from Oswego County Opportunities, a non-profit that provides support for families. Nichols said she tried to get a crib through Oswego County Opportunities, but her caseworker left and she never got the crib, according to her statement to police.
The apartment contained only a couch and loveseat, Curtis said. There was no bed; the family slept on the couch, police said.
None of the teenagers police saw during the raid lived there; all of them lived with their parents, police said.
Bailey said the family had run out of money a week and a half before the end of June. Their next check wasn’t arriving until July 3, he said.
“There were several days in the last week when (the baby) had not eaten,” Bailey told police. “We try to get food for her, but sometimes we can’t.”
Three days after her baby was taken from her, Nichols told police she was working to get her back.
“I walked all over getting stuff from Catholic Charities and Salvation Army so I can get (her) back,” Nichols told police in her statement. “I walked so much my feet hurt. I know one thing’s for sure: I’m gonna get a pedicure after all that walking. All I want is my (baby) back. I am lost without her.”