ICE agents serving warrant in Hackettstown find 3 children home alone

A Hackettstown couple is facing charges of child neglect after ICE agents serving a warrant found their three children home alone, police said.

Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were serving an arrest warrant Wednesday morning in Hackettstown for Luis Froilan Ortega-Calle.

The 30-year-old Ortega-Calle lived in an apartment in the 100 block of Main Street, according to police.

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Police said officers, who were assisting ICE, knocked on the apartment door, and a 6-year-old girl answered.

Officers learned the girl was home alone with her two sisters, ages 9 months and 3 years. The apartment was disheveled and unclean, according to police.

As the agents and officers were standing outside the apartment building, they saw Ortega-Calle and Josselyn Eneida DeLeon-Garcia walk onto Main Street from the alley next to Marley’s Gotham Grill.

When the couple saw the agents and officers, they allegedly turned and ran. The pair were stopped on Sharp Street.

Police said they learned the couple left their kids home alone while they went to work, from about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday to 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Both were each charged with three counts of second-degree child neglect. Ortega-Calle was taken into custody by ICE officers and was jailed in the Essex County Correctional Facility on a detainer and the criminal charges.

The 26-year-old DeLeon Garcia was sent in the Warren County Correctional Facility.

The Division of Child Protection and Permanency took custody of the children.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.