A mother’s taken to jail, her children taken away

LAFOLLETTE, TN (WLAF) – On Dec. 7, Deputy Preston Mullins with the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office was working as a School Resource Officer at LaFollette Elementary where he was approached by a teacher who was concerned about a student. The student had not been to school in approximately two weeks and had missed a lot of school. Mullins took the concerns to the assistant principal who verified the student had missed 39 days of school so far this year and the mother of the children had made false doctors excuses in the past.

At this point, Mullins decided to go to the student’s home and do a wellbeing check. Mullins along with the LaFollette Police Sgt. Aaron Adkins and Patrolman Shane Tielman arrived at the residence and found the front porch and yard cluttered with trash and miscellaneous items. The front door of the home was flimsy, not secured and cracked open. He also noticed that multiple windows in the home were broken with large shards of glass lying around. The officers made several attempts to contact anyone in the home and did not receive a response. Mullins looked to the left of the door and a saw a window with open shade where he could see a hot plate sitting on the kitchen table in front of the window. The hot plate was turned on and the food in the pan was steaming, according to a report from the sheriff’s department. This indicated to Mullins that residence was occupied.

Adkins knocked on the door and was able to feel resistance on the door as if someone was on the other side pushing the door closed. The door then opened and the officers were able to see a woman identified as Felicia Nashea Williams. She allegedly told the officers that her children were ill and that her mother had picked the children up earlier in the morning and took them to a clinic in Jacksboro. While Mullins was speaking with Williams, Officer Tielman told Mullins he could see a child through the window. Williams then said, “yeah my youngest is home”, when asked why she lied about the children being away to which she replied she was scared of the officers. Mullins then asked Williams if anyone else was in the residence and she reported no.

When she was asked about the second child, she reported that her mother had picked her up around 9:30 am to take her to the doctor. Mullins called the doctor’s office who reported the last contact they had with the child was in 2019.

Mullins called the sheriff’s office for a history check and learned there was an active warrant for her arrest for violation of probation. Williams was told about the warrant and asked to call someone to take custody of the child. She advised the only one who could take care of the child was her mother who had her other child. Mullins attempted to call the grandmother but was unsuccessful. He then requested an immediate response from the Department of Children’s Services (DCS).

SRO Mullins asked Williams if he could enter the home and perform a check of the children’s living conditions and Williams agreed. When he entered the home, he observed the interior condition to be poor, the residence was cluttered with moldy food, dirty clothes, molded and mildew items and other unsafe conditions. He also noticed there were cockroaches and other bugs crawling on the floor, table, counter, and clothes. As he entered the kitchen, he saw an open can of Steel alcoholic beverage to which Williams reported she was drinking the day prior. Mullins picked up the can and could feel that it was cold to the touch and had condensation on the can as if it was just removed from a refrigerator.

When DCS officials arrived, they began taking photos of the interior of the home. As Williams was escorted to the bedroom of the home, she walked over a pile of clothing next to the bed and began showing DCS an empty safe and informed them there were no guns in the home. When Mullins walked around the bed to scan the area, he found a female child hiding under the pile of clothes. At this time, Williams was arrested and placed in Mullins patrol car.

He walked back into the home to speak with the children and DCS, when he was informed by DCS about multiple firearms that were discovered in the area where the child was found hiding. Mullins found five long range rifles on the floor beside where the child had been hiding as well as one revolver type handgun.

As Mullins was exiting the home, he could smell an odor of Marijuana and looked down where he saw a Marijuana grinder sitting on the kitchen counter. Inside the grinder, Mullins found particles of a green leafy vegetation.

Custody of the children was turned over to DCS, and Williams was transported to the Campbell County jail.

Williams, 36, 404 N 13^th Street, LaFollette was charged with two counts of child abuse and neglect or endangerment, false reports, possession of drug paraphernalia and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 12/23/2022-6AM)