PHILADELPHIA — E. Atlantic St. — Police have rescued four children who were reportedly locked inside the basement of a home as punishment. Officers had to break into the house through a window to access the basement.
Inside, police found two girls, 12 and 10 and a 13-year-old boy. One of the kids called 911 from inside the basement, NBC Philadelphia reported. The children were locked in the basement for more than 12 hours.
The children had no food or water, they have been taken to the hospital as a precaution.
The mother, Charnae Lee, 29, says she told the children to go in the basement and take their mattresses. She says she didn’t know the door was locked.
Lee was arrested on Sunday, and is now charged with four counts of Unlawful Restraint, False Imprisonment, Endangering the Welfare of a Child, and Recklessly Endangering another Person.
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and its only consolidated city-county, the fifth-most-populous city in the United States, and the core of the sixth-largest metropolitan area in the country.
