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Donna Jung, 57, of Lehigh Acres, Florida and Helecia Morris, 41, of Brick Township, were found guilty of child endangerment on Thursday, May 25, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.
The convictions are in connection with incidents that occurred between April 1, 2015 and Jan. 9, 2016 in Brick Township, he said.
The jury concluded that Jung and Morris abused and neglected a minor in their care, he said.
On Jan. 9, 2016, Brick Township police and representatives from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency responded to a residence on Queen Ann Road in reference to a wellness check on Morris’s biological 8-year old son, Billhimer said.
Police found the child locked in his room in abhorrent conditions, he said. The room also reeked of urine.
The 8 year-old boy and two other minor children were removed from the residence. They were taken to Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township to be medically evaluated. All three children were subsequently placed in foster care, the prosecutor said.
An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victim’s Unit and the Brick police revealed that the 8-year-old boy was locked in his room day and night by Morris and Jung, Billhimer said.
He was not allowed to use the bathroom in the residence and was excluded from socializing with the rest of the family, he said. The room contained no bed, no furniture, no lights and no toys.
On Jan. 11, 2016, detectives made a warranted search on the residence, and Morris and Jung were arrested.
Jung and Morris are scheduled to be sentenced on July 7.
They both remain in the Ocean County Jail.
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