Man arrested again for child endangerment | Crime

For the second time in less than a year, a Jonesboro man faces child endangerment charges.

On Tuesday, police arrested 22-year-old Carl Vanpelt and charged him with two counts felony endangering the welfare of a minor-1st degree.

According to the initial police report, Officer Keri Varner was dispatched to Vanpelt’s home in the 300-block Calion to assist an Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children agent investigating the case of a five-year-old child with bruises and injuries.

When officers arrived at the home, no one answered the door.  But, officers said they could hear “children crying.”  Vanpelt reportedly came running from another apartment and opened the door.

Once inside the home, Officer Varner reported hearing “a baby screaming:”

“I immediately went to the room where I could hear the crying and found an infant…on the corner of the bed with a red blanket on her.”  Varner said the baby was “covered in sweat…her clothes were wet from sweat along with the blanket.”

Varner also reported finding a bottle beside the baby.  “The milk in the bottle appeared to have something floating in it that appeared to be mold.”

The house, has described in the police report, was in “disarray.”  Varner said she found “trash, plastic food trays and plastic wrappings,” as well as other stale food items lying around.

There were “no clean bottles to be located in the house,” according to the police report.

Inside the refrigerator, Varner described finding “some water in a jug and an empty milk container and another milk container that was expired.”  She also found some hot dogs and bologna and a stack of ramen noodles “that the five year old was used to fixing in the microwave.”

She said the “two older children (5 and 1) appeared to be hungry.”

The children were placed into the care of the Department of Human Services. 

As DHS workers were leaving with the children, the mother arrived at the scene.  Varner explained the situation to the mother and told her to contact DHS the following day.

Officers arrested Vanpelt and took him to the Craighead County Detention Center where he was held without bond.

This was the second time Vanpelt has been arrested and charged with child endangerment.

In June of 2012 he was accused of leaving three young children home alone for several hours.