COURTESY: Metro Police
Kellie Phillips and Jondrew Lachaux each face felony child abuse, neglect and endangerment charges carrying the possibility of decades behind bars.
Published Thursday, April 16, 2015 | 10:56 a.m.
Updated Thursday, April 16, 2015 | 3:15 p.m.
New charges were filed Thursday against a couple accused of leaving a pregnant 17-year-old alone in a Las Vegas-area home with a sickly 3-year-old child who died after they moved to California with their five other children.
Jondrew Lachaux was hit with 20 charges, including kidnapping and sexual assault counts that could get him life in prison if he is convicted.
Lachaux, 39, is accused of fathering the teen's baby, born last November in the house where the teen told authorities she lived for several months alone with the sick child after Lachaux and the teen's mother, Kellie Phillips, left for the Oakland, California, area.
Lachaux and Phillips each face eight felony child abuse, neglect and endangerment charges that, combined, could carrying the possibility of decades behind bars.
Neither was asked to enter a plea, and North Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Chris Lee scheduled a preliminary hearing for May 21. Both were being held on $1 million bail.
Attorney Ben Nadig, representing Phillips, said outside court that she intends to plead not guilty. Phillips, 38, was controlled by Lachaux, the lawyer said.
Phillips and Lachaux had six children together, ages 1 to 9, police said.
"My client has been under this man's thumb for a number of years — since he was released from prison," Nadig said. "This is the freest she has been from him in 10 years."
The judge scheduled a hearing for Monday to appoint a lawyer to represent Lachaux, an ex-felon who is also accused of concealing evidence by trying to hide the body of the dead child.
The corpse was found April 2 beneath discarded pizza boxes in a broken-down car in the garage of a tract home in North Las Vegas.
A day earlier, the 17-year-old was discovered living on the streets with her severely malnourished 4-month-old daughter.
The 17-year-old is not being identified because The Associated Press typically does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
Her child is now in foster care, and the teen and the other five children are in custody of county child protective services.
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