Mannington man charged with youngster neglect after a 2-year-old boy in his custody allegedly burned himself with a methamphetamine pipe

MANNINGTON, W.Va. – A Mannington man was charged with child neglect after a 2-year-old boy allegedly burned himself with a methamphetamine pipe while in custody.

On March 15, Mannington Police Department officials were notified of an ongoing domestic complaint in an apartment building on Pleasant Street, Mannington, according to a criminal complaint.

Robert McDonald

When the officers arrived, they were informed that 32-year-old Robert McDonald from Mannington was in an argument with another person and “threw things and a two-year-old was in the residence,” the officer said.

As the officers approached the residence, they could hear McDonald and the other person “cursing and screaming loudly,” and they could also hear the 2-year-old boy screaming according to the complaint.

As the officers entered the residence, they saw McDonald and the other person “pull the two-year-old towards each other” and the child “scream and shake hands,” the officers said.

McDonald and the other person stopped arguing, and the officers started asking them questions. When officers asked why the child’s hand was trembling, they were told that “the child followed [McDonald] and had packed [McDonald’s] Cigarette ”, it says in the complaint.

The officers asked if the child needed medical help, but were told that the 2-year-old boy did not. At that point, officials noticed “a marijuana pipe on the kitchen table” in sight, officials said.

Looking at the wound on the 2-year-old boy’s hand, the officers found that “the burn did not look like a cigarette burn, but more like a long burn over several fingers in a straight line” and that it already had blisters. according to the complaint.

In a room where McDonald and the rest of the house lived, officials said they had “found a glass pipe used to smoke meth, with a white residue and brown stain from what appeared to be a burning lighter” “The table” next to the bed was melted down.

The officers then called EMS to inform about the child’s injuries and then questioned McDonald and the unnamed person about the methamphetamine pipe, which both claimed they smoked “marijuana only,” the officers said.

After questioning other adults who lived in the residence, officials learned that the complaint said no one had been able to determine who owned the methamphetamine pipe.

At that time, an arrest warrant was signed for the undisclosed person, officials said.

McDonald began “packing his suitcases to leave the residence” and when officers searched these bags, they complained that they found “a small glass container with white residue in it”.

McDonald was charged with child neglect. He is being held in the North Central Regional Jail on a $ 10,012 loan.