Virginia mom pleads guilty to neglect after keeping her toddlers in cages

Carol Vaughn | The Daily Times

Show Caption Hide Caption Watch: Toddlers on Va. Shore kept in cages, police say In 2017, five children were removed from an Accomack home after they were found in squalid conditions, authorities say.

An Accomack County woman charged with five counts of child neglect after police said she kept her children in makeshift cages, pleaded guilty in Circuit Court on Thursday.

Malista Ness-Hopkins, 39, was arrested after social workers in July 2017 found five children living in a Mears home in unwholesome and unsafe surroundings, covered with filth, dirty diapers, lice and insect bites, according to testimony at a hearing in September 2017.

Two toddlers were found in an upstairs bedroom, confined in makeshift cages — cribs with lids screwed on to the top from which they could not escape, according to court records and testimony.

Judge W. Revell Lewis III accepted the guilty pleas on all five counts and allowed Ness-Hopkins to remain on bond until she is sentenced in December, on condition she continue treatment at the Eastern Shore Community Services Board.

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He also recommended a long-form pre-sentence report be prepared and that Ness-Hopkins be evaluated for the Community Corrections Alternative Program, operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections for non-violent offenders.

Ness-Hopkins, who has been out on bond since a few days after her arrest, appeared in court wearing khaki pants and a black shirt, and carrying a Mountain Dew soda.

Many of her family members and friends, including a friend with whom she now lives, were in the courtroom.

At a preliminary hearing, an Accomack County Social Services worker testified she visited the woman’s home July 28, 2017, after a complaint was made to her agency.

In the bedroom where the three younger children slept, the social worker found the 2- and 3-year children in separate cribs with tops that were affixed with multiple screws. She said the tops appeared to be made from the side rails of other cribs, making them into cages.

Another crib with a 1-year-old child in it had no top.

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Social worker Kate Bonniwell described them as “filthy, with multiple bug bites." They were infested with lice, she told the court.

In another bedroom, social workers found the 5- and 6-year-old children lying on mattresses on the floor. They were filthy, with no sheet and no pillow, just a bare mattress.

The entire house was littered with debris, broken glass and rotting food, Bonniwell said.

Defense attorney Tucker Watson on Thursday said Ness-Hopkins accepted responsibility for her actions.

She was overwhelmed with trying to care for five young children by herself and was suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder at the time, he said.

She has been undergoing treatment at the Eastern Shore Community Services Board since her arrest, Watson said.

Looking back at the situation, "she is heartbroken for many reasons," he said.

Watson said at the time of her arrest, Ness-Hopkins was living in a dilapidated house owned by her deceased boyfriend's grandfather.

She had no income and little in the way of resources, and was making plans to move to Whitestone, Virginia, at the time, he said.

Ness-Hopkins' boyfriend died May 16, 2017, when her youngest child was only 4 months old, Watson said, adding, "To say that that was a devastating point in her life would be true."

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He said she put the homemade lids on the cribs of the toddlers not as punishment, but as a safety measure to keep them from climbing out and hurting themselves — which he said is a common problem with children that age.

She did not have money to purchase devices sold on Amazon or in "any children's store" for the purpose of preventing toddlers from climbing out of their cribs, he said, noting she said she only used the lids when both she and the children were sleeping.

She "did not have the resources to buy a $100 device to accomplish that purpose," Watson said, adding, "This was not a situation in which Ms. Ness-Hopkins was attempting to trap these children or punish them."

There is no evidence she intentionally, physically abused the children, he said.

Still, she understands "that in fact it was a bad decision" to use the lids, Watson said, adding that Ness-Hopkins "loved her children — she still loves them."

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Four of the children were placed in foster care and the fifth went to live with his grandmother after her arrest. Cases are still pending in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court related to the children, according to Watson.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Elizabeth Wolff entered as evidence dozens of photographs taken by social workers and law enforcement officers, showing the condition of the residence and of the children at the time Ness-Hopkins was arrested.

She also offered as evidence medical records showing one child was seven months' behind on his vaccinations, and records showing two children who were taken to see a counselor had been diagnosed with disorders.

Follow Carol Vaughn on Twitter: @cvvaughnESN