According to an arrest warrant affidavit, an 8-year-old girl was seen walking alone near Highland and Lavaca in Beaumont around 11:35 p.m. on Sept. 10. She told a passerby she was trying to buy chips for her younger sister. The affidavit said she had been left with five siblings at a home where insects crawled on the walls and floors, several children had insect bites, and the kitchen had only a few cans of food and a box of instant mashed potatoes.
A Jefferson County grand jury has returned six indictments against Dawn A. Vickers, 31. Each indictment accuses her of abandoning or endangering one of the six children, ranging in age from infant to 10 years old. The affidavit said the oldest child had been left in charge of the younger children. It did not say how long they had been alone.
Police said they found Vickers working at a Waffle House in Port Arthur. Port Arthur police located her at the restaurant on Twin City Highway and detained her. Officers then took her to jail.