LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Police say a Frankfort woman is in custody after she locked two 4-year-old children alone in a room for 15 hours, forcing them to use the bathroom on the floor.
According to court documents, 25-year-old Carly Erlewein was arrested by officers with the Frankfort Police Department late last week.
Police say on the afternoon of Friday, Sept. 30, police went to Erlewein's Frankfort home with representatives of Child Protective Services to check on thE children.
When they arrived, officers spoke with two 4-year-olds -- a boy and a girl -- through a back window. The children said they'd been locked in the room and were having to use the bathroom on the floor, according to court documents.
Police say the 4-year-old boy told officers Erlewein -- their stepmother -- locked them in the room as punishment because he had peed on himself.
Investigators ultimately determined that the two children had been locked in the room for about 15 hours.
Police say there were bruises around the boy's neck. According to an arrest report, the bruises were caused days earlier, on Monday, Sept. 26, when Erlewein used her hands to choke him and punched him in the stomach.
Erlewein was taken into custody and charged with three counts of first-degree criminal abuse, one count of first-degree strangulation and one count of fourth-degree child abuse assault.
While on the scene, officers say they also discovered a dog in a cage filled with urine and feces. Police say the animal had no access to food or water, and its ribs were visible. Its condition was so poor that Animal Control had to seize it.
Erlewein is charged with second-degree cruelty to animals in connection with the dog's condition.
She is currently being held in the Franklin County Detention Center.
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