Immigration warrant leads to child neglect charges in Hackettstown

HACKETTSTOWN — A warrant from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has led to child neglect charges being filed against the parents of three children.

The warrant, which police initially were attempting to assist ICE agents in serving early Wednesday morning, was intended for a 30-year-old man residing on Main Street.

Upon knocking on the door shortly after 8 a.m., officers observed a 6-year-old girl answer the door of the man’s apartment, which police described as being disheveled and unclean.

Police subsequently determined that the girl and her two younger sisters — one of whom was 3 years old, and the youngest of whom was 9 months old — had been left home alone overnight while their parents went to work.

While standing outside the apartment, officers observed the intended target of the warrant, Luis Froilan Ortega-Calle, and 26-year-old Josselyn Eneida DeLeon-Garcia turn on foot onto Main Street from the alleyway next to Marley’s Gotham Grill, a restaurant on Main Street.

Upon spotting the officers, the couple turned around and ran back down the alleyway.

Officers pursued the couple and caught up to them on Sharp Street, next to Municipal Parking Lot 2, whereupon Ortega-Calle was taken into custody by ICE agents.

Upon further investigation, police determined that the couple had left their three children home without care or supervision from approximately 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, when they left to go to work, to approximately 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The three children were turned over shortly afterward to the custody of the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency.

The man, Ortega-Calle, has since been lodged in the Essex County Correctional Facility. DeLeon-Garcia subsequently was lodged in the Warren County Correctional Facility.

Both have since been charged with three counts each of second-degree child neglect.