Parents charged with child neglect after 8-year-old jumps from window in search of food

CALHOUN COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS) — Two parents have been charged after a young child jumped out of a window and showed up at a nearby business claiming she hadn’t eaten in days, court records said.

Ryan Keith Hardman and Ellio Magthalena Hardman, both 33, of Arnoldsburg, West Virginia, are charged with child neglect with risk of serious bodily injury or death and conspiracy, according to criminal complaints filed in Calhoun County Magistrate Court.

Deputies said a barefoot, 8-year-old girl entered a Family Dollar on Friday, July 7, and told workers her parents did not want her anymore and that she hadn’t eaten in several days, the complaint said.

When deputies asked the girl why she was by herself, she said she was hungry so she jumped out of her second-story window and came to the store to see if she could get some food.

Deputies said the girl told them she jumped out the window because she wasn’t allowed to leave her room. The girl told deputies her parents told her she had an attitude and when they tell her she’s not being good they don’t want her, the criminal complaint said.

When deputies went to the child’s home they were met at the door by Ryan Hardman and a strong odor of marijuana, according to the criminal complaint.

The Hardmans informed deputies they believed there were four children in the home and were not aware that the 8-year-old had left. They told deputies the child had left on similar circumstances on two other occasions.

Deputies said a search of the home found drug paraphernalia and marijuana, according to the complaint. Evidence near the window supported the child’s claims that she’d jumped from the window, deputies said.

Three other children were inside the home at the time of the search and were removed by Child Protective Services.

A sibling of the 8-year-old told deputies she witnessed the incidents the child described and said the punishment would sometimes occur for up to a week at a time.

The 8-year-old was treated for pain and injuries suffered from jumping out of the window.

The parents are currently being held on $100,000 bond.

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