TROY, N.Y. -- To his neighbors, the 11-year-old who lived there seemed pretty normal.
“He was my best friend at school,” said friend Asaddi Sankey.
But to Sankey, there were often signs that something wasn't quite right.
“We'd be sitting in class and the lights would be on and he looked real, real pale,” Sankey said.
Troy police said on Saturday, two of the boy's adult friends brought him, bruised and scared, to the police station and reported he had been abused for years by his own foster mother, Sharmon Evans, 51. They accused Evans of keeping a record of the abuse on a calendar in a closet, though police do not confirm it exists. Evans was later arrested for endangering the welfare of a child.
A Troy woman will be in court again next week on allegations of child abuse and neglect that police say spanned back several years. Her foster son is in the custody of Child Protective Services. Britt Godshalk talked to neighbors who say it's a sad situation.
Child Protective Services can only say that the boy is now in “safe care.” Still, the police wish it hadn't come to this.
“If in fact somebody had called us previous to this on Saturday, we would have been able to enter the residence and evaluate it and maybe we would have saw conditions where would have brought CPS in,” said Troy Police Det. Sgt. David Dean.
Troy police said they were called to the home twice -- once in 2000 for a car accident, and once in 2007 for criminal mischief.
“Other than that, this residence has not been on our radar at all,” Dean said.
A neighbor told us about a year and a half ago police were called to the house because neighbors spotted the child sitting on the front stoop in his underwear crying for up to 45 minutes. The neighbor said police told Evans to bring the child inside, but it is the allegations in the police report about what may have happened inside the house that now has neighbors disgusted.
The report alleges Evans deprived the boy of food, beat him, made him eat his own feces, deprived him of his medication and made him sleep on the floor under a bed frame with no blankets.
On Monday, Evans, her daughter and granddaughter were kicked out of the house after codes enforcement deemed it unsuitable to live in.
“She just rolled by with her clothes hanging out of the trunk,” neighbor Chad Labello said.
The allegations are far from proven. Still, residents feel they've lost some comfort here.
“I didn't expect this to happen at all,” neighbor Vanessa Labello said.
“It makes me want to get to know my neighbors more,” said neighbor Denee Zeigler.
While Asaddi Sankey feels he's lost a friend.
“He was a nice person, real funny,” he said.
Calls to Evans’ attorney have not been returned.
Evans was arraigned Monday and was released on her own recognizance. She must report to probation and is due back in court on May 23rd.