BATH COUNTY, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — Update: August 10 at 6 p.m.
A Bath County grand jury has indicted Shane and Angel Dufresne on two counts each of first-degree criminal abuse involving children under the age of 12. The indictments allege both defendants placed two young children in situations that could have caused serious physical injury or harm.
According to Kentucky State Police citations, the case began after a complaint led troopers and the Department for Community Based Services to a home on Mill Creek Road on June 18. Investigators were responding to allegations involving two children, ages two and four.
Court records allege the children were living in unsafe conditions. Troopers wrote that the home was filled with trash and that investigators found the skeletal remains of a dog on the property.
According to the citations, both Shane and Angel Dufresne tested positive for amphetamine, methamphetamine and Suboxone. Investigators also reported that hospital records showed one of the children tested positive for methamphetamine. The citations further state that both parents admitted to using methamphetamine but said they did so outside the home.
Investigators removed the children from the home and placed them with a relative.
The indictments move the criminal case forward in Bath Circuit Court. An indictment is not a finding of guilt. It means a grand jury found enough evidence for the case to proceed through the court system. Both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
Under Kentucky law, first-degree criminal abuse involving a child younger than 13 is classified as a Class B felony. A Class B felony carries a potential sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison upon conviction.
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Original Story:
A Bath County couple has been indicted on criminal abuse charges after an investigation on June 18 revealed that two children were found living in "deplorable conditions," according to court documents.
The documents detail that Kentucky State Police Post 8 and the Department for Community-Based Services responded to a home on Mill Creek Road in Owingsville regarding a complaint.
When arriving at the home, documents reveal that KSP discovered that two children were being fed "only formula" and that "there were dogs not being fed."
According to the documents, investigators noted that the home was not "environmentally clean."
Documents show that after further investigation, two adults in the home, identified as Shane and Angel Dufresne, later "tested positive for amphetamine, methamphetamine, and suboxone."
According to the documents, one of the children also tested positive for methamphetamine.
As a result, on June 25, the couple was arrested and booked in the Rowan County Detention Center, according to documents.
On Aug. 6, the couple was indicted on two counts each of first-degree criminal abuse of a child 12 or under, according to documents.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Shane and Angel, who were out on a $20,000 bond from their initial arrest.
