Child neglect charges after laundry argument led to meth-fuelled fight with animal faeces

A couple from Evansville,Indiana, were jailed on Tuesday on child neglect charges after a meth-fuelled argument over laundry left the woman, their two small children and their apartment smeared with animal faeces. Neighbours called police at about 9:30am to the residence of Terri A. Patterson, 23, and Nicholas D. Schelb, 29, after Patterson was observed standing in the rain outside the rear of the apartment, screaming and beating on the back door. Officer Steve Carlile wrote in a probable cause affidavit that he found Patterson screaming and banging in the backyard of the apartment.



She was soaked with her clothing in disarray, her bare feet bloodied and with “large clumps of what appeared to be a yellowish animal faeces in her hair as well as on her face and clothing. Carlile’s report said she was crying and screaming she wanted her children, who were inside the apartment. According to the affidavit, Patterson and Schelb have lived together for four years and have two children together, a 1-year-old and a baby. Patterson told police that she and Schelb had got into an argument about laundry. During the incident, Patterson told officers that Schelb had scooped up animal faeces from the apartment floor, smeared it onto the bedroom door as she tried to hold it shut and then rubbed it into her hair.

He had also thrown some at her while she was near the couple’s baby, according to the affidavit. Patterson also accused Schelb of breaking several glass objects and smashing a coffee table during the argument. Inside the apartment with Schelb, Officer Carlile reported Schelb was holding the older child who appeared to have faeces on the tops and bottoms of his feet and between his toes. The younger child was in a car seat on a stack of mattresses. Patterson said the younger child had got faeces into this mouth when Schelb had thrown some at her, according to the report.



Officers wrote that the 1-year-old child had been walking around in the vicinity of where the argument had taken place, which was littered with broken glass, pieces of wood and feces. Schelb, according to the affidavit, admitted to officers that the couple had been up all night because they had smoked meth on Monday. Both Patterson and Schelb tested positive for using methamphetamine at the time they were arrested. Both children were placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. Patterson and Schelb both face a preliminary charge of child neglect. Schelb also faces two preliminary counts of battery. Both were lodged in the Vanderburgh County Jail, where bail had not been set.