They had a new wide-screen television and computers, but a Lynnwood couple had scant food in their cupboards for their three young children who were found locked in a bedroom Monday, prosecutors said.
The allegation is contained in court papers filed Friday charging a mother with unlawful imprisonment of two boys, ages 6 and 2, and a girl, 4.
Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies found the children in a filthy bedroom with ropes holding the door shut.
Raemie Lee Higlen-Doel, 23, was being held on $25,000 bail, and was expected to be arraigned early next week. Her husband, Robert Eugene Doel, 25, pleaded innocent Friday. He was arrested on Thursday.
The children were put in the care of the state’s Child Protective Services.
The room where the children were held was filthy, and the floor was covered with crumbs and feces, deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul said in the documents. The 2-year-old had no diaper on, and there was feces smeared on the wall next to the door.
Court documents said there was no water in the room, and the only signs of food were an empty popcorn bag, a candy wrapper, a half-eaten pastry, a paper plate and several lollipop sticks.
The kitchen refrigerator contained some beer, pop and condiments, Paul said. The freezer was nearly empty, with only a couple of items inside, she said, and there was little in the pantry.
When confronted by officers about the lack of food in the apartment, Higlen-Doel told officers that the next day was shopping day.
"She bemoaned the family’s lack of money, yet prominently displayed in the living room was a brand new big-screen television and entertainment center, as well as a computer desk with two computers," Paul wrote.
When officers suggested that the children should have some food, Higlen-Doel fixed them peanut butter sandwiches and chips.
The children told the officers that’s exactly what they had eaten earlier in the day, and they couldn’t recall having had breakfast, Paul said.
Paul had little to say Friday beyond what she wrote in court documents.
"I think the facts in the public record speak for themselves about the deplorable conditions in this place," she said.
Officers went to the couple’s apartment on Lincoln Way Monday to serve a warrant on Doel, and found a bedroom door tied shut with rope and elastic cord. Officers heard a young boy saying, "Let me out," Paul said.
The two are accused of routinely keeping the children locked up in the room. The boy told officers that their mother locked them in the room when she got up in the morning and didn’t feed them until lunchtime, Paul said.
Higlen-Doel told the children not to tell anyone about being locked in the room, Paul said.
In the apartment kitchen, officers saw dirty dishes piled up, spilling out of the sink onto the counter. They saw pet cats on top of the kitchen table eating cat food.
While officers were there, Paul said, one of the cats defecated on the kitchen floor, and Higlen-Doel sprayed it with air freshener and left it there.
The defendants have had several complaints made against them to Child Protective Services, Paul said, the latest a week or so ago when the older boy told school officials he had been pushed into a bookshelf.
In 1999, when the older boy was 2, police and CPS workers went to the home to investigate a report of neglect.
Police then smelled a strong, sour odor of rotting food, and the place was filthy, Paul wrote. A large amount of rotting food was on the floor and garbage spilled out of garbage cans, she said.
"When asked if there was any food for the child, (Higlen-Doel) pointed to a pile of food on the floor. Among cigarette butts and rotting food, police saw a pile of french fries," Paul said.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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