Lubbock Mother Indicted for Abandonment of Four Children

A Lubbock mother was indicted Tuesday by a grand jury for the abandonment of her four children.

Early this year in January, Lubbock Police were called to a home in the 5500 block of 96th street after a call from neighbors. When they arrived, they found four children living in a dirty house with no adult in sight.

Neighbors called the police after the children, aged 6, 4, 2, and an infant, had went to the surrounding homes and told neighbors they hadn't seen their mother in a while and asking for help.

Officials said the house was found dirty and with a broken window that had cut up the children's feet. The infant was found in a diaper that was soaked through.

When Nancy Welch, 25, came home, she told officers that she had arranged for a babysitter, but after further investigating they found her claim to be false. Welch was arrested and released on a $10,000 bond.

A police report from January said: "[Welch] abandoned [the four children] under circumstances that a reasonable person would believe would place them in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment."