Two Colby adults charged with felony child neglect
Two Colby residents were charged with two counts of felony child neglect stemming from a police investigation on Dec. 30, 2022.
Megan S. Johnson and Matthew M. Weber are both being charged with two felony counts of Neglecting a Child (No Harm and Child < 6 Yrs or Disability) and two misdemeanor counts of neglecting a child as a result of the investigation.
According to the police report, a Colby- Abbotsford police officer was told a man was working in an apartment when he noticed the apartment was filled with trash and there was feces on the wall. The caller stated the apartment smelled of rotting garbage and had flies everywhere. The caller also stated there were multiple children inside of the apartment.
The officer arrived at the apartment and met with the mother of the family outside of the residence. The officer asked Johnson if he could step inside and inspect the apartment. Johnson said it was a mess and she was trying to get it cleaned. Johnson told the officer she lives in the apartment with her fiance as well as four children, all of whom are under the age of 13.
Johnson opened the door and told the officer he wasn’t going to like what he would see. Upon entry, the officer saw a 10-year-old child sitting on a twosquare foot table playing a video game. The child ran back to a back bedroom when the officer walked into the room.
The entire floor of the living room area was covered with garbage and there were piles of items mixed with the trash. The only three items not covered in garbage were the three recliners. The counters of the kitchen area were completely covered in garbage with no room to safely prepare any food. Various items were in the bathroom making access to the toilet difficult due to having to walk around or over items.
The officer told Johnson the apartment is not fit for children. Johnson said she knows and is doing the best she can but does not have any help.
Johnson said three of her children like to sleep on the recliners in the living room so they can rock. Johnson said the other child has her own room. In the three children’s room, there were two twin-size mattresses on the floor with one partially on top of the other. There was a toddler bed covered in items and a dirty mattress. Johnson said her room is also a mess and said her children go in there and make it a mess.
The other bedroom for the oldest child was filled with garbage and had a couch with no bed. The couch was full of various items.
The officer asked Johnson about the brown smudges on the wall and she told the officer it was food and marker while denying that it was feces. Johnson did concede there was feces on the door but had not gotten around to cleaning it.
The two youngest children were not wearing any clothes and only had the same style pull-up diapers the 10-yearold was wearing. The oldest child started shaking and crying when coming out by the officers.
The officer asked Johnson if the kids had any family members they could stay with until the apartment could be cleaned. Johnson said she did but they would only help now that the officer was taking her kids away. The officer explained he was not there to take her kids away, but just wanted a safe place for them to stay while the apartment was cleaned.
The officer made contact with Marathon County Social Services who then spoke to Johnson over the phone. The officer then spoke to the Social Services representative who said she would be finding a safe place for the children and doing a temporary placement with them until the apartment could be cleaned and is deemed safe for children.
As the officers were leaving, Johnson’s fiance, Matthew Weber, came home and spoke to the officers. The man said he works all day and there is only so much time in a day to clean. Weber said he recently filled a dumpster at the apartment while trying to clean the place up.
Both Johnson and Weber will appear in Marathon County court on February 23 for their initial appearances in front of judge Gregory Strasser.
