By Pat Culverhouse
A Sibley woman is currently in the Webster Parish jail charged with cruelty to a person with infirmities after investigators found evidence that she kept her Down Syndrome child in a urine and feces filled environment.
Dawn Sherman Calhoun, 51, a resident of the 500 block Miller Briarwood Rd., reportedly is being held on a $10,000 bond following her arrest last week.
According to a complaint received at the Sheriff’s Office, the young child (gender/age unreported) was allegedly placed in a filthy bed daily at around 4 p.m. and kept there until around 11 a.m. the following day. Additionally, the complainant claimed the child was fed only once a day.
After receiving the information, Sheriff’s Det. Karen McDonald and an investigator from the state Dept. of Child and Family Services went to the Sibley residence for a welfare check. When entering the residence, investigators reported the odor of cigarette smoke “made it a little difficult to breathe.”
Investigators reported an overwhelming odor of urine and feces when they approached rooms at the top of the stairs of the residence, an odor which reportedly worsened as they approached the child’s bedroom.
Inside the child’s room, investigators found a safety bed with vertical wooden spindles which appeared to be covered in feces. According to investigators, Calhoun told them the substance could have been “chocolate milk or feces.”
Calhoun reportedly told the investigators she cleans the bed every three months. She also told investigators the child’s bedding becomes urine-soaked and she washes “once or twice a week.”
When asked about the child’s food, investigators said Calhoun showed them oatmeal, pudding, Jello and Ramen Noodles. She reportedly is the child’s only caretaker.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.