Patterson police find child living in filth, without food or clean water

A mother faces a felony child-endangerment charge after Patterson Police Services deputies found her 4-year-old son covered in feces and urine, and without access to food or clean water.

Tuesday night, deputies responded to a request for a security check at the intersection of Highway 33 and Almond Avenue, south of the city, PPS Chief Jeff Dirkse said. “The call originated from a citizen who came into the substation and provided the information on the child.”

Deputies found the child sleeping in his own excrement on a couch in a trailer with tarps where there should have been windows and doors, the chief said.

The trailer, which he described as “half-destroyed,” is on the site of an old marijuana grow.

Deputies took custody of the boy, Dirkse said. The mother, 32-year-old Melissa Brooks, was booked into jail and remained in custody Wednesday afternoon, with bail set at $50,000.

The child was living on the property with his mother and her boyfriend, whom Dirkse said he does not believe is the father. Augustine Cacha, who had two active warrants, was with the boy when deputies arrived and he was arrested.

Brooks showed up an hour later after deputies called her, Dirkse said.

The trailer had no running water, electricity or food. Brooks has six kids total, but only two in her custody. The other child was found to be staying elsewhere and also was turned over to Child Protective Services.

Patterson Police Services deputies bought the child clean clothes, a McDonald’s Happy Meal and a Captain America toy, Dirkse said. “It was pretty sad,” said the chief, who encountered the boy in the police station’s briefing room.

This story was originally published January 17, 2018 at 2:54 PM with the headline "Patterson police find child living in filth, without food or clean water."