FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Three individuals have been charged after officers found a child sleeping on a couch during a wellbeing check in Fairmont.
On Oct. 13, officers with the Fairmont Police Department responded to a drug report and call of potential structure fire at a residence on Hoult Road in Fairmont, according to a criminal complaint.
The caller stated that a fire appeared to be forming at the residence and that “they could smell marijuana coming from the same area,” officers said.
When officers arrived, they put out the fire and learned from the initial caller that the residence did not have running water; the caller also stated a male juvenile lived in the home, according to the complaint.
Officers then performed a wellbeing check on the juvenile and were allowed into the property by the three adults living at the residence, identified as Kathryn Stewart, 62; Mark Wilson, 40; and Michael Wilson, 43, all of Fairmont, according to the complaint.
During that time, officers learned that the 8-year-old boy “had been sleeping on the couch in the living room due to one of the male subjects staying in the room that was supposed to be his,” officers said.
Next to the couch which the boy indicated he slept on, officers observed “a glass smoking device … coated with a burnt residue inside,” according to the complaint.
At that point, officers requested and then executed a search warrant on the residence, which resulted in the seizure of multiple glass smoking devices, sets of scales and several bags containing presumed methamphetamine, officers said.
While speaking with child protective services, the 8-year-old boy said that he had seen Michael and Mark “smoke methamphetamine in front of him,” then the child “clearly identified a glass smoking device and spelled out meth while pointing it out to officers,” according to the complaint.
Stewart, Mark and Michael have been charged with child neglect. They are being held in North Central Regional Jail.