(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater woman who is on probation for passing forged checks in Cushing and bogus checks in Stillwater has been charged with child neglect for allegedly leaving her toddler alone for three hours in an apartment — while she walked her infant in a stroller in August heat. Michelle Lee Kinsley, 24, remains jailed on $10,000 bond pending a Sept. 13 court appearance at which she can ask for a preliminary hearing on her latest felony charge. Kinsley was arrested shortly before 10 p.m. on Aug. 1 in 92 degree heat by Stillwater Police Officer Ricardo Inciarte, who was dispatched on a report of a woman pushing a stroller asking for money to feed her baby, court records show. When Kinsley was spotted at 12th and Chester Streets in Stillwater, “she motioned to her mouth and ears and I was able to understand that she was deaf and mute,” the officer wrote in his affidavit. “Michelle told me that she asked for money to buy gas for her vehicle. Later in our conversation, she changed her story to asking for money to buy milk for the infant in the stroller. She also told me that her SSI check was late and she did not have any money,” the officer wrote in his affidavit. She said that she was living at a friend’s apartment since she did not have a permanent home, the affidavit said. “As we passed notes, I saw that Michelle was chain smoking from a pack of cigarettes that was located next to the baby’s milk bottle that did not have a cover and had the nipple exposed in the bottom part of the stroller. “I noticed that (the infant) looked flushed and was fussy. Michelle picked her up from the stroller and I noticed even in the dim light conditions that there was a substantial amount of what seemed like sweat,” on the stroller outlining where the baby’s body had been, the officer wrote. Kinsley had an outstanding arrest warrant from Lincoln County and a nearby resident signed a municipal citation against Kinsley for begging for money — which is prohibited in the city of Stillwater, the affidavit said. Stillwater Police Sgt. David Duncan arrived at the scene and said “Michelle has been asking for money for a period of approximately three months,” the affidavit said. At the Stillwater Police Station, to which the baby had been transported in an infant car seat, a female dispatcher said that when she changed the baby’s diaper, she saw that the infant had a severe diaper rash, the affidavit said. She said the diaper was completely full of urine and appeared to have been on for a very long time, the affidavit said. The dispatcher said “she had to sterilize (the baby’s) milk bottle because when she opened it to place more milk in it, she got a very pungent and strong sour smell emanating from the bottle,” the affidavit said. When a Department of Human Services child welfare worker communicated with Kinsley on a note pad, Kinsley wrote that she left her toddler unattended at the apartment and she hoped that the toddler was still asleep, the affidavit alleged. Due to the imminent danger that the two and one-half year old boy was in, the officer and DHS worker went to the residence at 1:20 a.m., where a woman said that she had just arrived home about 20 minutes before and that the toddler had been playing by himself, the affidavit alleged. The toddler was then transported to the Stillwater Police Station where the DHS worker told Kinsley she was authorized to take both children into custody, the affidavit said. Kinsley was allowed a brief visit with her children and said “the bites (on the toddler) had been caused by cockroaches from a previous residence,” the affidavit alleged. The officer took pictures of the bites on the toddler’s body and also of his right eye, which seemed to have a small injury, the affidavit said. He also took pictures of the baby’s diaper rash and a bruise on the bridge of her nose, the affidavit said. While the officer was helping the DHS worker release the children to their foster family, “I noticed that there were cockroach feces, eggs, and carcasses among (the toddler’s) clean clothes,” Inciarte wrote in his affidavit. “Due to state felony charges being filed, I dropped the municipal citation for begging for money for Michelle,” he wrote in his affidavit. About six weeks earlier, Kinsley had been placed on a total of 52 years’ probation for six counts of forgery in Cushing in 2007 and numerous bogus checks in Stillwater in 2009 — along with an order to pay $24,477 restitution, court records show. State Department of Corrections Community Sentencing Specialist Dee Miller has recommended that a portion of Kinsley’s probationary sentences in those old cases be revoked to incarceration for a wide range of alleged violations. Kinsley had failed to report for weekly supervision meetings, to notify DOC of her current address, and to go to the Mission of Hope for housing since she said she had no place to live — all in July before a senior citizen at Lacey Park Apartments reported on Aug. 1 “Kinsley had asked several of the senior citizens for money,” the affidavit alleged. “Ms. Kinsley is also being charged with child neglect, due to the condition of her two minor children,” the affidavit alleged.
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