Mother, boyfriend charged after fire kills children

By George Mathis

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The mother of two children who died in an apartment fire and her boyfriend have been arrested on felony counts of child cruelty, DeKalb police said Saturday.

DeKalb police spokesperson Mekka Parish said Angel Johnson, 29, and Keith Pinkney, 24, left the children unsupervised at the Marquis Chase Apartments on Ashley Place near Pine Lake.

A space heater in a child's room likely started a fire at about 11 p.m. The door to the bedroom may have been locked, so the children had no chance to flee the fire, police said.

Aliyah Quarles, 4, and Devyn Quarles, 3, died in the fire, Parish said. A 2-year-old was hospitalized with burns.

Johnson and Pinkney were each charged with three counts of child cruelty and one count of giving false statements to police.

They made their first court appearance Saturday afternoon. Bond was set at $410,000 apiece for Johnson and Pinkney, according to DeKalb County jail records.

--Staff writers Angel K. Brooks and Larry Hartstein contributed to this report.