‘That’s my f—ing kid’: Mom accused of forcing son to use Pringles can as a toilet
Angie Harlan (Allen County Sheriff's Office).
An Indiana woman has been sentenced after authorities say she hid her son in her home for days after he ran away from his foster placement.
Angie Harlan, 45, was sentenced Monday to 2½ years in Allen County Community Corrections Residential Services after pleading guilty to felony intimidation and misdemeanor false informing. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped charges that included neglect and criminal confinement.
According to court records cited by local ABC and NBC affiliate WPTA, the child had been living with a foster family who reported him missing on Aug. 17. After the report, investigators questioned Harlan, who denied knowing where her son was or having seen him.
Later, the Indiana Department of Child Services received a tip that the boy was at Harlan’s home. Police returned to the residence and searched the house, where they found the child hiding under a bed in an upstairs bedroom.
The boy told investigators that after he ran away from his foster family, he first went to a stranger’s home, where someone allowed him to use a phone to call his mother. Police say Harlan then picked him up and brought him back to her house.
According to the child, Harlan forced him to stay inside a closet secured with a keyed padlock and instructed him to use a Pringles can as a bathroom so he would not be discovered. He also alleged that she gave him pills that made him feel disoriented and caused him to lose consciousness. Harlan reportedly claimed the pills were Tylenol.
During a search of the home, authorities found prescription medications identified as Pregabalin and Hydroxyzine. The prescriptions were issued to Harlan, and the child told police he was given those pills and later “passed out.”
Investigators also said that when officers initially came to the home, Harlan instructed her son to hide under the bed to avoid being seen. On another occasion, she allegedly took him to a park and told him to hide in bushes.
The Allen County Community Corrections Residential Services program, where Harlan will serve her sentence, is a community-based alternative to traditional incarceration designed for moderate- to high-risk felony offenders.
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