Mother and Boyfriend Arrested After Children Found Locked in Kennels and Covered in Feces

February 16, 2019

• The Case of Undisclosed Victim, 5; Undisclosed Victim, 4; Undisclosed Victim, 3; Undisclosed Victim, 1
• Suspects Andrew Joseph Fabila, Paige Isabow Harkings

Decatur, TX – North Texas deputies discovered four young children in a “state of neglect,” apparently malnourished and covered in feces and urine, living in an outbuilding in rural Wise County Tuesday. Two of the children, deputies say, were being held inside a small locked dog kennel. Their mother and her boyfriend now face child endangerment charges.

Wise County Sheriff’s deputies were called to a domestic incident at a residence described by sheriff’s deputies as a barn house, or a metal, shop-type outbuilding, near County Road 4930 at about 7:15 a.m. that morning.

Deputies arrived to find a man, identified by police as Andrew Joseph Fabila, 24, with a number of scratches on his face.

The affidavits detail the exact moments when deputies, as well as Texas State Troopers, pulled up to the metal shop in rural Wise County and saw Harkings and Fabila standing outside the shop smoking. When approached, both suspects tried to run back inside the building.

While talking with Fabila and his girlfriend, Paige Harkings, 24, deputies reported hearing the voices of children coming from a makeshift living space inside the outbuilding.

A State Trooper and a Wise County Sheriff’s Deputy entered the shop, where they found one child wrapped in a blanket, lying on a heating pad which was on top of a plastic wrapping over a mattress. Two other children were locked inside a canine kennel and were covered in their own feces. A fourth child was lying in a Pack-N-Play wrapped in multiple blankets. The four children are ages 5, 4, 3, and 1.

There was a space heater that the officers observed right next to the kennel where the children were lying. Investigators also said the shop had electricity but no plumbing, and the children were using a non-connected toilet, surrounded by trash bags, for urinating and defecating.

The children’s clothing and bedding were dirty, and the children who were in diapers had dirty diapers that appeared not to have been changed in a lengthy amount of time.

The four young children were expected to be transferred from a Fort Worth hospital to foster care Tuesday night. Still, child abuse experts say they will likely face several years of treatment and therapy to overcome the apparent abuse.

The older two children were found locked in a single, wired, 3-by-3-foot dog kennel, one on a blanket and another on a small toddler bed; the other two children were only partially clothed, and all of them were described by deputies as unkempt and in a “state of neglect.”

“This is at the top of the list of worst cases, as far as children go,” said Craig Johnson, Chief Deputy, Wise County Sheriff’s Department.

“Locking a child, any time, in a dog crate is unacceptable. When you find them in the state they were found today, covered in fecal material, no food readily available to them, didn’t appear to have been cared for, it’s unacceptable. It’s bad,” Johnson said.

Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said when deputies found them, all of the children were hungry and thirsty, and that “there was plenty of food inside the barn, but the refrigerator and the cabinets had been locked so the kids could not get in to get food.”

“There was a refrigerator in the residence, but it had three straps on it that served as locking devices to keep people out. In dealing with children… they were positioned in a manner where those small children would not have access,” Johnson said.

“I’ve not worked one where children are locked inside a dog kennel, and I find that absolutely disgusting,” said Lane Akin, Wise County Sheriff.

Deputies gave food and water to all of the children, all of whom were believed to be small for their ages and malnourished. They were then taken to Cook Children’s Hospital in Fort Worth for examinations.

Fabila was treated at the Wise Regional Hospital in Decatur for facial lacerations before joining Harkings at the Wise County Jail, where they were each booked on four counts of child endangerment. Harkings was also charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury for the cuts on Fabila’s face.

Child Protective Services confirmed to a local news station that they have had previous contact with the parents at a different address and that they’re investigating this latest incident. CPS said that the children were being released from the hospital and will be placed into foster care.

The sheriff said there was some evidence of drug abuse inside the home. However, there’s a lot more for investigators to gather, including from conversations with the children, relatives, and Fabila and Harkings, who remain behind bars.

At the time of this post, bond has been set at $15,000 per charge; Fabila is being held on $60,000 bond and Harkings is being held on $75,000 bond.