DeKalb man arrested Thursday for child endangerment after kids found unsupervised

DeKALB – An unincorporated DeKalb man was arrested after his children were found unsupervised in an apartment with a stove turned on, according to DeKalb County sheriff’s officials.

Deqota F. Anderson, 34, of the 1300 block of North Annie Glidden Road in DeKalb, was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of endangering the life of a child, which is a Class A misdemeanor, according to local law enforcement. If convicted, Anderson could face up to a year in jail.

Sheriff’s officials investigated a report of unattended children at 10:19 a.m. Thursday at the North Annie Glidden Road address, according to a DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office news release.

“It was found that two juvenile children were left alone in their home without proper supervision and the kitchen stove [was] left open and turned on,” sheriff’s officials wrote in the release.

DeKalb County Sheriff’s Chief Dep. Andy Sullivan said that Anderson initially was arrested by DeKalb city police for a traffic offense. Anderson then told city police his children were inside his apartment alone and then city police called sheriff’s police.

“So we went over and verified that,” Sullivan said. “There was a six year old and one year old left unsupervised.”

Sullivan said the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was called shortly thereafter.

DeKalb Acting Police Chief Bob Redel said the apartment the kids were found in was within the sheriff’s jurisdiction and DeKalb police assisted in the well-being check of the children. He confirmed Anderson told a city arresting officer that his kids were left alone in an apartment.

Anderson was transported to DeKalb County Jail and was lodged there, pending bond. DeKalb County court records related to the child endangerment charges were not immediately available online on Friday afternoon.