The KOONTZ Children - 3 left Home Alone - Salisbury NC

Police: 9-Year-Old Left To Care For Toddlers For 3 Days

Posted: 1:17 pm EDT May 27, 2010Updated: 5:10 pm EDT May 27, 2010

Salisbury NC ---- A mother has been charged with child neglect after
police said she left her three children home alone for three days.Bianca
Koontz, 26, faces nine counts of child neglect.

VIDEO: Police: 9-Year-Old Left To Care For Toddlers For 3 Days

Police said Koontz’s 9-year-old daughter
cared for her siblings, a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old, for three days.Salisbury
police said they responded to a hang-up 911 call at 602 Willow Road
late Monday night. There, they said they found the three children home alone.

AUDIO: 911 Calls From Child Neglect Case

The 9-year-old told police she had been caring for her siblings since
Saturday, when her mother left. The girl said Koontz went to a party and
had returned home for a few hours Sunday and Monday mornings.She
told police she had stayed home from school Monday to care for her
siblings.Police said the three children were left with food, a
phone and a list of numbers to call in case of emergency.“Something
bad can happen in the blink of an eye, [and] that responsibility falls
solely on the parent,” said Steve Whitley from the Salisbury Police
Department.The girl said she called 911 because she had heard a
noise that startled her.Police described the 9-year-old as very
mature for her age, noting she had fed her siblings and changed their
diapers. She told police her mother had promised to pay her for
baby-sitting.“That's quite a tremendous burden to place on a
child, caring for itself, much less toddlers,” Whitley said.Officers
arrested Koontz when she returned home Tuesday.Koontz called
Channel 9’s newsroom and said she wanted to tell her side of the story,
but decided against an on-camera interview after speaking with her
attorney. Koontz denied leaving the children home alone and said her
mother was supposed to be watching them.Koontz is being held in
the Rowan County Detention Center and was given a $1,500 bond. She’s
scheduled to appear in court June 30.


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