On Monday September 1, 2014 at approximately 9:23 am the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call in the 200 block of Third Street in Sierra Vista about a woman refusing to leave the property.
Deputies arrived on scene and met with the caller who advised that the woman who was causing the problem had since left the area. The caller stated that the woman was there to check the welfare of his two year old son and she was the child’s grandmother. Deputies advised that they needed to check the welfare of the child so they could then make contact with the grandmother.
The mother of the child, 23 year old Megan Gerhart, brought her two year old son out to meet with the deputies and they noticed that the child was pale and extremely thin and appeared to be unkept. The deputies left the area and made contact with the woman reporting to be the grandmother who advised that she just wanted to tell her daughter Megan that her grandfather was in the hospital so she went to the home and was asked to leave.
Deputies made contact with the Arizona Department of Child Safety regarding the condition of the child inside of the home, stating that he appeared to be extremely thin. DCS personnel made contact with the family in the afternoon on Tuesday September 2, 2014 and after checking the child, they removed him from the home and transported him to the University Medical Center for evaluation.
Medical staff at UMC advised that the child was severely malnourished and only weighed 17 pounds which is underweight for a child of his age. According to the CDC, a child this age should weigh close to 30 pounds.
The child remains in the hospital in stable condition. As a result of this information and knowing that other children resided inside of the home, Sheriff’s detectives executed a search warrant on the residence on Wednesday September 3, 2014 at approximately 11:30 in the morning.
As a result of this search and conditions inside of the residence, both parents were arrested and charged with Domestic Violence/Child Abuse for the condition of the two year old. The Department of Child Services took custody of two other children who lived in the home, a 9 year old girl and a 10 year old boy. A sixth person living inside of the home was taken to a local care facility for significant medical issues.
Megan Gerhart, 23, and Robert Hollenbough, 33, have been booked into the Cochise County jail and are being held pending an initial appearance. This case remains under investigation by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.