JOHNSTON, Iowa — A Johnston woman faces child endangerment charges after allegedly keeping three children locked in a blacked-out room.
According to the criminal complaint, three children in the care of 31-year-old Brittany Roozeboom said they were routinely locked in a bedroom for extended periods of time, sometimes so long they urinated and defecated in their clothes.
One of the children said in the report they had to knock on the door to be granted access to the bathroom.
A search was executed and authorities saw for themselves that the bedroom door could only be locked from the outside and the windows were covered with black-painted cardboard and spray foam, the criminal complaint says.
There was no internal door knob found on the inside of the bedroom door.
Photographs taken during the search of the home showed a large amount of trash in the kitchen with bugs crawling around on the floor.
According to the officers on the scene, the state of the home coupled with the children's limited bathroom access created a substantial risk to the children's safety, health and well-being.
Roozeboom is charged with one count of child endangerment resulting in bodily injury and three counts of child endangerment. She is now in the Polk County Jail.
Local 5 will update this story as more information becomes available. Download the We Are Iowa app or subscribe to Local 5's "5 Things to Know" email newsletter for the latest.
