A Gwinnett couple lost custody of their children after an animal-control officer found a baby left alone in a minivan with its doors wide open while his parents were apparently inside their house having sex, a police report said.
County Animal Control Officer J. Brooks summoned police Feb. 13 after finding the crying infant in the vehicle at 1:30 p.m. and nobody would answer the door at the house on Highpoint Road near Snellville, Officer K.D. Adams wrote in the report. Brooks was responding to a concern about an animal.
Katrina Marie Norman, 32, eventually appeared after persistent knocking and said the baby was left alone for a few minutes. Norman showed up shortly after the house door was opened and slammed while Brooks and Adams waited outside by the van, which the officer said he found suspicious.
“I asked her why the infant was left unattended in the vehicle and why she did not answer the door earlier,” Adams wrote. “She then pointed at herself (attire). I asked what she meant then I realized that she was wearing a pink, one-piece lace suit, (mostly naked) covering herself with a blanket.”
Norman explained to police that she donned the lingerie to surprise her husband while he was carrying in groceries and that led to a “making-out” session. She said she was going to get the child when the officer heard the door open and then quickly shut again.
Norman’s husband, Louis T. Cope, told a similar story except that he advised the door slamming was when he went to get his son and finish unloading. The 23-year-old stated he put a “collar on Katrina and told her to stay,” Adams wrote.
Adams and Brooks then checked the brick ranch and found it filthy and in disarray with clothing and trash strewn on the floor, spoiled food in the refrigerator and the smell of feces and urine. The only possible groceries were pre-made sandwiches and soda, Adams wrote.
“As I passed through the living room again, I noticed a bottle of juice lying on the floor. Inside the juice appeared to have fungi growing,” Adams wrote. “I continued to the bathroom/laundry which was a little cleaner than the other rooms I had been in. While walking through the house Katrina made statements that she needed to clean….”
Norman said her older son and daughter were at high school. She also had a dog and “approximately three” cats.
Adams called a supervision officer and a decision was made to take to action to move the infant and two older children to state custody and the parents were jailed on charges of child abuse.
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