A west Bexar County woman is facing criminal charges for allegedly leaving her three children to fend for themselves with very little food to eat.
Shaquita Evans, 36, was arrested Sunday in connection with an incident last week, according to an arrest affidavit.
The affidavit said sheriff’s deputies were answering a call for a welfare check at her home on Bushbuck Field last Thursday when they found the three children, ages 8, 2, and 1, home alone.
The 8-year-old knocked on a neighbor’s door asking for food, which triggered the welfare check call to the sheriff’s office, the affidavit said.
Other neighbors told KSAT 12 News they witnessed the same thing before.
“She’ll come up and ask for water and food, so we’ve given her some stuff,” said Daniel Clough, who lives down the street.
Clough said he often sees the older two children wandering the streets alone, sometimes in the middle of the school day.
“Usually, I see them running around with no adult supervision,” he said. “Anything can happen. As you know, the children can get taken. They can get hurt on the street, and we have no way of contacting anybody.”
The affidavit says deputies found the home in disarray, with only frozen meat and canned foods to eat.
After deputies reached Evans by phone, she returned home.
The affidavit says she told investigators she has been out of work and was at a job interview at the time.
When deputies later questioned a woman who offered an alibi for Evans, she admitted Evans had asked her to lie, the affidavit said.
Additionally, investigators questioned Evans about her children not attending school.
The affidavit says she told investigators she allowed her children to stay home occasionally and questioned why she even had to send them to school.
Evans was booked into jail on a charge related to child abandonment.
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