Law enforcement officials gave mixed reports at the end of last week regarding the current whereabouts of the Union City parents of a 2-year-old boy who was found wandering the streets alone two weeks ago. But officials did confirm that Josephine C. Licari, 31, and Carlos Casanova Cappaletti, 38, had been arrested by Union City police on April 11 for neglect of a child and neglect of the elderly and disabled.
At a press conference held on April 12, Union City Police said that the couple were being held in the Hudson County Jail facility in Kearny.
A representative from the Central Judicial Processing Center said last week the pair had been arraigned on April 12 and were being held in jail without bail. However, a representative from the county jail’s records department said that Licari had been released with no bail posted and that there was no record of Casanova Cappaletti being taken to the jail.
According to Union City Lt. Frank Romano, the court only has to notify the victims, not the police, if one of the parties is released.
Maggie Branch, the caseworker handling the family with the Division of Youth and Family Services (DYFS), declined last week to comment on the case. A casework supervisor was also unavailable for comment.
The couple’s Kennedy Boulevard home is closed because the Health Department said it was unfit for habitation, and the couple’s four children are in foster care.
All alone
The alleged neglect was discovered on Wednesday, April 10, when police responded to the area of 28th Street and Kennedy Boulevard on a report of a toddler being found by a passerby.
According to the three detectives involved in the case, the gentleman then stayed with the 2-year-old boy until police arrived. The child was found walking toward Kennedy Boulevard, wearing nothing but a T-shirt and a soiled Depends diaper, at 8:30 a.m., police said.
Upon further investigation it appeared that the child, along with his two infant siblings, was left under the care of Licari’s mother, who has only one leg and cannot move. Licari’s sister, in her 40s, who is suffering from a mental disability leaving her unable to stand or speak, was also left at the apartment.
While police were trying to find the child’s home, a woman approached them saying she was the elderly woman’s home health care aide. She brought police to the apartment on the 2700 block of Kennedy Blvd., where police found the elderly woman and two other children under 2 years old. A fourth child, 10, was at school.
The home health care aide had gone to look for the child after she arrived at the home and found he was missing, she told police.
According to the detectives at the press conference, the parents said that they had left the children in the care of the home health care aide. However, the health care aide had not arrived at the apartment until 9 a.m., at least 45 minutes after the child was found on the street, according to the aide.
According to Det. Warren May, the parents were at the Welfare Office when police arrived to the apartment. According to May, police called the Welfare Office and said that there was an emergency in the apartment to get the parents home.
“It is the responsibility of the mother and father who left them in that condition,” said May, adding that the children should never have been left in the grandmother’s care.
“The grandmother is also a victim in this,” said Det. Joey Fernandez. “We believe that they keep her in fear.” Detectives Fernandez, May and Michael Garcia worked on this case.
The children taken by DYFS and the grandmother and sister were taken into custody by Protective Services. All four children are currently in foster care.
Police said that the family had a long history with DYFS and Protective Services and had attempted to evade the agencies recently by moving from North Bergen to Union City.
Not fit to live
The Union City Health Department and Building Department were also on the scene. After inspecting the Kennedy Boulevard apartment, Health Official Dennis DeClemente, with cooperation from the Building Department, padlocked the doors, saying that the apartment was uninhabitable.
“There were two rooms where you couldn’t even see the floor,” DeClemente said last week. “It was totally disgusting.”
Police also stated that the parents and three of the children slept on the floor in one room, while the grandmother and the oldest child slept in the bed in another room.
“There is no way that anyone could live in these conditions,” said Fernandez, adding that the apartment had no refrigerator or food and was filled with soiled diapers.
“What we found was horrifying,” added Fernandez. “The children looked like they haven’t been bathed in days.”
DeClemente added that the building is only zoned for commercial use and that the landlord will be receiving a summons for violation of zoning laws.
No phone number for Licari or Cappaletti was available.