Belen is facing an additional three counts of child neglect related to her three children who died in a blaze while they were locked inside an upper second floor bedroom.
By H. Nelson Goodson
April 16, 2013
West Allis, WI - On Tuesday, Angelica D. Belen, 24, was charged with an additional three felony counts of child neglect in connection with last Thursday's house fire that killed three of her children. Belen had been also charged in late March with six misdemeanor counts of child neglect for two separate incidents. If convicted, Belen is facing up to 25 years in prison for each felony count and up to $100,000 for the latest three counts of child neglect. A cash bond of $500,000 was set for Belen.
The criminal complaint states, Belen admitted to police that she locked her three kids in an upper bedroom so they wouldn't mess up her house or running the risk for neighbors to notice they were home alone. She apparently was on her first day of work and couldn't find a babysitter. Belen decided to go to work after locking Alex and Adrian Colón ages 4 and Nayeli Colón, 5, in the bedroom just before 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, according to the complaint.
Fire investigators confirmed, that the upstairs bedroom door where the children were found was locked from the outside. The fire started after an electrical short ignited a blaze behind a wall under the bedroom. The children were trapped inside the bedroom and died of smoke inhalation and suffered severe burns, according to the Milwaukee County medical examiner's report.
The children were home alone when the blaze was reported and firefighters arrived at 5:19 p.m. to put out the fire. The bodies of the three children were later found in the second floor bedroom.
A fourth child survived, the youngest was with Belen's estranged husband, Wilfredo Belen who took an extra dayoff to take care of the baby. Wilfredo had filed for a divorce.
