Grand Island couple charged with child abuse

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - A Grand Island couple is now facing multiple charges of felony child abuse after police located four children in what they say are conditions that endangered their physical and mental health.

Daniel Fontaine, 34, is charged with four counts of felony intentional child abuse along with two misdemeanor charges for obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest.

Amanda Wolfe, 30, is also charged with four felony counts of intentional child abuse.

Court documents are revealing more details as to the conditions the children were in.

The children ages include a three-month-old baby, one-year-old, two-year-old and three-year-old.

Grand Island Police say they responded to a welfare check Tuesday night at an apartment building off of Highway 30 in east Grand Island. Someone had reported that the children were living in unsafe living conditions and the children had matted hair, according to court documents.

When they arrived, officers smelled a foul odor coming from inside the home.

That’s where, according to the arrest affidavit, officers observed the children all unwashed with visible dirt on them. Police said the children in the home had sores, bug bites, and diaper rashes likely caused by unsanitary conditions.

Police say in the affidavit that one of the children was restrained in a stroller for what they believe to be a long period of time with matted hair while another one was in a play pin with rotting food and trash.

“In this case, this one was probably a little worse than some of them that we have seen more recently, but we are thankful that a concerned citizen called it in and we were able to get the kids somewhere safe and take action in this incident.” Captain Jim Duering said.

Police said in the affidavit that that the baby looked small for its age, checking the baby’s weight at the hospital with the baby only weighing nine pounds.

The arrest warrant goes on to say the fridge and freezer had rotting food with bugs crawling around, there were human and animal feces on the floor of the bathroom, cockroaches as well as trash piled up.

GIPD said in court documents that the three older children were removed from the home in July 2022 for unsafe and unsanitary living conditions. Police said the couple was working with DHHS for over a year to determine what is and what’s not safe living conditions.

Grand Island Police said in court records that the couple “knowingly disregarded these expectations and creating an unsafe environment for their children.”

”We do know working in conjunction with social services that there were some safety plans put in place previous that both of the suspects have been ignoring. That was a part of the decision in this case.” Captain Duering said.

The four children were placed into a 48-hour hold with Department of Health and Human Services.

Both appeared in Hall County Court for their arraignment Wednesday morning, where a judge set preliminary hearing dates.

The judge granted Wolfe a recognizance bond while Fontaine’s bond is set at 10 percent of $10,000. Neither of them are allowed to see the children.

Their next court hearings are set for October 24.