A New Jersey woman is facing multiple charges of child endangerment following the death of a 5-year-old girl who was in her care.
Raphaelle Register, 36, was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a child on Monday. An investigation began Sunday when police responded to a report of an unresponsive child at a home in Robbinsville Township in Mercer County.
Register is the girl’s mother, according to NJ.com.
The girl was taken to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Hamilton and pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
She has not been publicly identified.
The death occurred at a housing complex called Freedom Village, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Investigators said Register had legal responsibility to care for the victim, as well as another 5-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 12-year-old. She allegedly left them all unattended and did not properly feed or nourish the 5-year-olds nor did she provide them access to necessary medical treatment “thereby making the children abused or neglected,” a criminal complaint stated.
The conditions of the other children is unknown.
Neighbor Sara Beth Hicks told ABC 6 that the 5-year-olds were twins who were born premature and had medical complications.
The cause and manner of girl’s death are pending autopsy results.
Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion to hold Register pending a trial, according to ABC 6. She was charged with four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
