Troopers revealed that the child and the cage were smeared with human feces, including the walls. Naesha R. Lumpkin, a 24-year-old Buffalo woman, faces charges of child endangerment for reportedly confining a toddler in a makeshift cage.
On February 8, NYS Police from Clarence discovered the two-year-old boy in the cage while executing a warrant on a Chadduck Avenue residence in Buffalo. The makeshift cage, fashioned from a playpen covered by a crib piece, prevented the child from standing or escaping. Both the child and the cage were coated in human waste, and the bedding was soaked in urine and feces.
Child protective services intervened, taking the child to Oishei Children's Hospital. Lumpkin was charged and issued an appearance ticket for Buffalo City Court. Medical staff at the hospital observed bruising and two healing fractured ribs on the child, believed to have occurred 10 days to two weeks earlier.
Lumpkin claimed the child had fallen down stairs in late December 2023 and early January 2024, but medical assistance was not sought. The New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, with assistance from the Erie County District Attorney's office, conducted the investigation, stating no further charges are pending.