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Mother faces felony charges in fire that injured three children
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Jessica Warthen
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Las Vegas firefighters investigate a Feb. 15 apartment fire in which three children were injured. Jason Bean/Las Vegas Review-Journal » Buy this photo
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Feb. 23, 2012 | 7:47 a.m.
A 21-year-old mother was arrested Tuesday night in connection with an apartment fire last week that endangered her three children, Las Vegas police said Wednesday.
The children, age 5 and younger, were hospitalized for smoke inhalation. They were unsupervised at the time of the blaze.
According to Clark County Detention Center records, Jessica Warthen was booked on three felony counts of child neglect with substantial bodily harm. She remained in jail Wednesday night on no bail.
Warthen's arrest report said police focused on why her children were home alone.
Detectives honed in on Warthen and the baby sitter of her children, Gary Layton.
Warthen's initial story that she had called Layton, who lived in her building, and asked him to baby-sit before the fire was disproved by police, the report said.
About 8:15 p.m. on Feb. 15, Las Vegas firefighters responded to a blaze at the Hidden Village Apartments, near Bruce Street and Charleston Boulevard.
Warthen's children, 3-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and a 5-year-old boy, were unconscious when they were rescued from the apartment and were hospitalized in critical condition. They recently were released from University Medical Center.
At first, Warthen told police that shortly after placing the phone call to Layton, they passed each other in the building's stairwell as Layton headed to her apartment.
During an interview days later, Warthen changed her story and admitted to police that she had left her children alone, the report said.
"Warthen stated she left her three children home alone," the report said. "She said that she had told her three children to go lay down. Warthen stated that she thought her children were asleep because it was quiet in their bedroom, but she did not open the bedroom door and check on them before she left the apartment."
Surveillance footage placed Layton at the Fremont Street Experience just before 7:37 p.m., when Warthen said she and Layton spoke on the phone.
Officers also saw Layton running from Fremont Street to his nearby apartment just after the fire began, the report said.
Layton told the Review-Journal the day after the fire that he did speak with Warthen on the phone before the blaze. He said he called her to ask to be paid for his baby-sitting.
The report said police confiscated three cellphones from Layton. They also confiscated Warthen's cellphone.
Warthen was visiting a friend before the blaze.
According to the report, it appears her children were left alone about 40 minutes before the fire started.
Fire Department officials said the accidental blaze was caused by Warthen's children, who were playing with a lighter or matches.
A mattress in the apartment caught fire.
The children were found in another room. One child was on a bed and the other two were on the floor.
The fire caused $5,000 in damages.
It was unclear Wednesday who has custody of Warthen's children.
Warthen was arrested by North Las Vegas police the night of the fire on an unrelated charge.
North Las Vegas police spokeswoman Chrissie Coon said Warthen was cited Nov. 5 at a Walmart for petty theft after being accused of shoplifting boys clothing.
When she failed to show up for a court date in connection with the misdemeanor, an arrest warrant was issued for her. Warthen was booked on the warrant shortly after the fire.
She was jailed at the North Las Vegas Detention Center until Tuesday night, when she posted $1,337 bail, Coon said.
Las Vegas police arrested her shortly after that in connection with the fire.
Warthen is scheduled to appear in Las Vegas Justice Court this morning .
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@endbureaucrazy....GO AWAY!!!!!! Take your crazy sh*t elsewhere.
@Visitor: I did not post anything accusing Mr. Layton of anything, but I too wondered why he had three cell phones. To me, that suggests that he might be involved in illegal activities. Of course, one cell phone might be a corporate phone provided by his employer (if he has one), the second could be his personal phone and the third for his babysitting sideline. But I did wonder about it.
The world is going to hell. True, it was recently revealed in the news that 70% of African-American women have children out of wedlock. But their numbers have been the highest for years now, even in larger, more prosperous cities. The question is: Where has that gotten them or the black community? Isn't that a major contributor to many of the problems in their community? And I guess the rest of the birdbrains looked at those results and said, "Gee, that's really great. We should do that too!" Consequently, the rates for other Americans (yes, that includes Caucasians) having children out of wedlock is steadily climbing. It makes zero sense to knowingly sabotage your offspring's futures... so, I guess it's just ONE MORE thing that has to happen to turn the future generations more wicked and ungodly. God's Word says it will happen, and by golly, so it will.
You are correct visitor in that it is nobody's business how many phones he has unless one or more of those phones is paid for by the taxpayer. I'm sure you are aware of the free (not for taxpayers) government phones to individuals on the welfare dole.
If I recall correctly, when this story was first printed in the RJ there were several comments about the babysitter asking why he had three cell phones and why did he run back to the apartments so quickly when he heard about the fire if he wasn't supposed to be babysitting. There were a lot of posts insinuating that he was the one who left the children alone, however, I did not read one apology to Mr. Layton for slights against him. Mr. Layton I apologize for the ignorance of the people who made negative posts against you in the previous article. Oh....why is it anybody's business how many phones he has.
Let's see, a 21 year old mom and a 5 year old child. Means irth at 16, impregnation at 15. Statutory rape. I bet no one ever investigated that "crime."
The RJ still has not mentioned to whom the children were released when they were released. Children's Services, the grandmother (whose parenting skills created this wonderful mother), or ...?? But don't worry, we the taxpayers will pay for these children no matter who is raising them and making $$ off of them.
One more question for the writer, can you explain why the police department said there wasn't a fire? "...asked him to baby-sit before the fire was disproved by police." Who at the police department can make that call?
Make sure that if she is receiving any kind of social welfare payments for the kids that money is halted and redirected to where the children are. This child having children should never be allowed to claim social assistance again. To all the folks who rightfully stated the sperm donor should have to pay for life you are correct but therein lies a problem caused by the ACLU and the NAACP. To protect the sperm donors these organizations fought and won their case to have felonious offenders DNA typed for future reference. Being a Deadbeat Sperm Donor is a crime therefore the ACLU and NAACP do not want them held accountable for their actions. What's next, urinalysis for the people who work hard and make the money that supports these individuals but no urinalysis for those collecting the money?
I hope the children are OK and that they are in a good home and become decent, contributing members of society one day. As for the mother, it is time to get on track. Begin with a tubal ligation, rehab, community college classes, etc. It's not too late. You are only 21, for God's sake! You have the rest of your life ahead of you and it's your choice -- and yours alone -- what kind of life the next 60 years will be.
This is a bad parenting story. That's it. No matter
who she voted for, if she gets welfare, her race, etc. Some people don't care about their children. It's a fact. They are self centered, selfish, unloving.......It's sad.