Mother charged with leaving her 2 children in 'filthy hotel room'
HOUSTON - One mother is facing charges after officials said she left her two children in a ‘filthy hotel room for an extended period of time.’
According to court documents, 37-year-old Ashli Rene Lock is charged with child abandonment.
Officials said that officers noted both of the children appeared malnourished and filthy, and the one-year-old was sleeping in a soiled diaper.
Court documents stated the 12-year-old told police Lock withdrew her from school so that she could care for her one-year-old brother full-time.
The 12-year-old also stated to police that her mother didn't provide her with adequate food for her baby brother, so she fed him macaroni and cheese.
The 12-year-old said that she hadn't left the hotel room in about a month. She said sometimes Lock would come home from work, and sometimes not.
Officials said the 12-year-old also said she didn't have her mother's phone number and had no meaningful way of contacting her in the event of an emergency.
Officers described the hotel room as 'something resembling a Marvin Zindler inspired nightmare of unsanitary living conditions, with broken bottles on the floor, drugs in plain view, slime in the refrigerator and moldy food haphazardly strewn throughout."
Court documents also stated that the 12-year-old showed officers photographs of injuries that she said came from her mother striking her.