Kids to cops: Mom used attic as lockup when angry

LOWELL, Mass. — A Massachusetts prosecutor says police responding to a report of a 3-year-old being locked in a sweltering attic were told by other children, “Mommy does this when she gets angry.”

Kristen Paquette was charged with reckless endangerment to a child and assault and battery on a child. The 27-year-old mother was held on $10,000 bail after being arraigned Friday in Lowell District Court.

Police say the boy was naked and filthy when they arrived Thursday after receiving a tip. They estimated the temperature inside the attic at over 100 degrees.

Investigators said Paquette forced the boy into the attic, and that it “was not an isolated incident.”

Two other children, ages 6 and 9, were placed in state custody, as was a third child who wasn’t home at the time.