Source: Danielle Hosey / Danielle Hosey
According to the latest update on the case against an Ohio mother who received national attention and support a few months ago when she was arrested for leaving her daughters in a motel while she went to work, the two child endangerment charges against Shaina Bell have reportedly been dropped.
As we reported on back in February, Bell had left her 10-year-old and 3-year-old at a Motel 6 in Liberty, Ohio that they’d been living at after 6 p.m. in order to go to work at a Little Caesars pizza shop close by.
According to coverage from yesterday (June 3) by the Atlanta Black Star, Judge Jeffrey Adler apologized to the 24-year-old mother “following a pretrial hearing on May 26 in Girard Municipal Court, in which she pleaded no contest to two counts of disorderly conduct.” The outlet additionally reported that Judge Adler dismissed the two child endangerment charges against her and noted that Bell’s case should have been handled differently from the beginning — with help from relevant social services agencies that could and should have stopped her from being arrested in the first place.
“When the matter arose,” Judge Adler reportedly said in court, “I was personally offended that this young woman was arrested and taken to jail instead of just being served with a summons. That should never have happened. People with more serious offenses are not being taken to jail at this time. Based on everything I know about the case, it could have been handled a lot differently. I think Miss Bell learned a lesson here.”
As per the Atlanta Black Star, the children’s father had been the one who’d alerted the authorities that the 10-year-old and 3-year-old were in at the Motel 6 by themselves that February evening. The outlet further detailed that Bell had felt “the oldest child was old enough to be alone with her younger sibling” and that she’d made sure someone went to do hourly checks on the childrens’ wellbeing as she was away working.
Bell had reportedly told the eldest child that she’d be back by 10 p.m. Instead, she was unfortunately later arrested at the Little Caesars during her shift and spent that night in jail before later receiving her child endangerment charges. The children had been “turned over to their father” at that time according to the Atlanta Black Star.
As we mentioned when we covered the story originally, Bell’s GoFundMe page received donations and support from countless high-profile and everyday online users who identified with her lack of childcare and need to support her family. The page, organized by Bell’s mother Danielle Hosey, went on to raise over $165,000. By the end of that month (February), an update shared that Bell had been able to purchase a home for her and her children.
