RACINE, Wis. (Scripps News Milwaukee) — A Wisconsin mother’s bail was set at $1 million on Thursday after prosecutors say her five children were found severely malnourished and neglected in a basement.
Dashja Turner, 34, was charged with five felony counts of neglecting a child.
This Aug. 7 booking photo provided by the Racine County Jail shows Dashja Turner. (Racine County Jail)
On July 31, Racine Police were dispatched to a home to help CPS investigators with a welfare check on five children that had been staying in the basement. The children are ages 14, 8, 7, 2, and 14 months.
According to a criminal complaint, a woman who was a permanent resident of the home said there was a distant family member, later identified as Turner, staying in the basement with her family for a short time.
The woman further shared the family was living in the basement with Turner’s boyfriend, who is believed to be the father of two of the five children. The other fathers are allegedly not involved.
The complaint says the home was not finished and had exposed wooden stairs. There was one light in the basement and one window which was covered in purple paint. There was one twin-size air mattress in the first room. Four “frail, unkept children” were found laying on it. The complaint says the mattress had a single sheet covering it with no pillows or blankets.
In another room in the basement was Turner and a crying child in a bassinet. The complaint says that that room had a mattress, pillows, blankets, a box fan, a desk, and a television. It also had a window covered with purple paint. There was no bathroom and no food.
The complaint described the children as frail, lethargic, and appearing as though they had not bathed. It also says they were wearing stained clothes, and had matted hair and “extremely long” fingernails.” Two of the children were only wearing socks.
Social workers took custody of the children and they were transported to the hospital due to their conditions. The complaint says the 14-year-old weighed just 54 pounds and had never seen a dentist.
Consultations found the children to be severely malnourished and neglected with signs of physical abuse. As of Thursday, Aug. 10, the complaint says the children were still admitted to the hospital for various medical conditions.
On Aug. 6, an investigator met with Turner. The complaint says her odor caused his eyes to water. Turner allegedly told the investigator they were living at the home for a month. She stated she cleaned the children by wiping them down with soapy water from a bucket and that their clean clothes were put away in garbage bags. She also claimed all the children “eat the basics” three times a day. None of the food items she listed were found in the home.
The complaint notes that welfare checks for the children had been called in numerous times in Kenosha, Mt. Pleasant, and Racine beginning in September 2021. Turner claimed she home-schooled her children and they were not seen by educational professionals in several years.
If convicted, Turner faces a maximum of 60 years in prison and a $125,000 fine. She returns to court on Aug. 16 for a preliminary hearing.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Milwaukee, an E.W. Scripps Company.
