A warrant charging Burnie James Fraim, 42, and Jessica Lynne Benales, 24, with five counts of endangering the welfare of children was filed on Saturday, according to online court records.
Neither Fraim nor Benales, both of whom reportedly have developmental disabilities, had been arraigned as of Monday morning.
The infant girl was attacked Thursday as she sat strapped into a car seat in the living room of the couple’s home in the 300 block of Poplar Street.
According to police, three ferrets escaped from their cloth enclosure and attacked the 1-month-old baby, who was left alone on the first floor. Her parents were upstairs when the attack occurred.
Benales heard the baby’s screams, ran downstairs and pulled the animals off of the infant.
“It’s the most horrific thing I’ve seen happen to a child in 45 years in this town,” Police Chief Robert Smythe said on Friday. “These kids need to be protected.”
 |
| Ferrets, part of the weasel family, are legal to own as pets in the state of Pennsylvania (file picture) |
The couple has five children, all under the age of 5. All of the children also have special needs, Smythe said. The only food in the house for the children was peanut butter and a can of cranberry sauce, police said.
Five kids in five years. Basically she gets pregnant, has a kid, gets pregnant, has a kid... someone please sterilize her. And him!
The house was reportedly infested with fleas and mites. The family also had six cats and two dogs. The ferrets were destroyed after being tested for rabies.
The older children were removed from the house and are being cared for by relatives.
The infant remains at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in stable condition. Smythe told the Daily Times that surgeons are attempting to reconstruct the child’s face and placed stents in her nose to allow her to breathe.
(The Mercury - Jan 27, 2015)
Earlier:
My daughter, who has ferrets and has been following this story told me the necropsies so far haven't found any human skin in the ferrets system.. I guess that part of town also has a problem with rats. I have pet rats, but wouldn't want a wild one anywhere close to me. Anyway, why wasn't social services involved before all of this? Two people with special needs, and every single child in the same boat. Something is wrong with this whole story.
ReplyDeleteAgreed Trisha. Sounds to me that every one of these children are in danger. It also seems odd that ferrets would do this much damage. That baby must have been left alone for a long time!
DeleteYes Dayna. Ferrets like any other animal can bite, but they usually don't do very much damage. It's like the parents of the boy who sued petco. Their son got rat bite fever which is one of the rarest diseases in the pet community. It's treatable and curable if you aren't careless about it. I've only been nibbled by actual pet mice and scratched by a cat who was going to fall. I'm 43 with 3 kids, we've had lizards, rodents, cats, dogs, and birds and not one has ever made any of us sick or really hurt us. The cat scratches were sore but it's not like it was an attack. For any pet animal, other than a dog to do that much damage the child has to be unattended for a while.
ReplyDelete