Jan 9, 2009 1:46 pm US/Central
Mother Held On Bond After Fatal Fire Killed 3 Kids
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Charlene Cheatem, 24, was charged with three counts of child endangerment that caused the death of her three children in a house fire.
Chicago Police Department
A Southeast Side woman was ordered held on $75,000 bond Friday after being charged in the death of her three children, killed in a fire at their home Wednesday morning.
Charlene Cheatem, 24, of the 8300 block of South Buffalo Avenue, was charged early Friday with three counts of endangering the life of a child, according to Cook County State's Attorney's Office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton. Cook County Assoc. Judge Adam Bourgeois ordered her held on bond Friday afternoon.
Cheatem is slated for a preliminary hearing in Far South Felony Court (Br. 38) on Jan. 14, according to Simonton.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports that Cheatem is a mother of five children. One child was injured in the fire but survived, the other was at school.
Cheatem allegedly admitted to police she left her kids home alone Wednesday morning. She's charged with felony child endangerment resulting in death.
The fire started about 10:40 a.m. Wednesday in the three-story building where Cheatem lived and was elevated to a still-and-box alarm, Fire Media Affairs Director Eve Rodriguez said.
Three children were dead on the scene and firefighters rescued a 4-year-old, who was taken to the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, Rodriguez said.
The three dead children were found in the third-floor bedroom. Firefighters rescued the fourth from the second floor, where he was found sitting and playing, 23rd Battalion Fire Chief Rosalind Jones said.
Sharon Lockhart, sister of the children's father, identified the dead as Jimmy Gates, 7 months; Tyrell Gates, 2; and Sherell Gates, 3.
A Thursday autopsy determined all three children died of smoke inhalation from a house fire, the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said.
Firefighters found a smoke detector on the second floor, but it was not working. There were no other smoke detectors found in the home, Fire Commissioner John Brooks said.
There was no gas heat in the building and investigators believed a space heater started the fire.
The 4-year old boy is at Comer Children's Hospital in fair condition. Devonte Appleton, who identified the children as his nephews, said the hospitalized boy is "doing fine. They say he has some smoke inhalation."
The 5-year-old sister who was at school during the fire has been placed with relatives.
Cheatem told police she left the apartment that morning to walk her daughter to school, but there was no adult supervising the young children.
After dropping the child off at school, she allegedly went to visit an uncle, prosecutors claim. When she returned to the home, she smelled smoke, but could not get to the children, according to court records.
CBS 2's Joanie Lum and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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