Mother arrested for child abuse after 4 children found in Antioch home, 3 unconscious
Has history of arrests dating to 2017 and twice last year, including for child endangerment and cruelty to a child
“After conducting several tests, Con Fire HAZMAT determined the home to be uninhabitable.”
By Allen D. Payton
Four children were found unconscious in an Antioch home on Thursday, February 20, 2025, after a call came in from a passerby at 4:51 p.m. who stopped to check on them, and their mother was later arrested for child abuse. The children, ages 2, 2, 5 and 8, have been placed in the custody of Child and Family Services.
“We got a call from someone driving by who stopped and checked on the kids,” said Antioch Police Lt. Njoroge while at the scene. “When we got here, we checked on the welfare of the children. We’ve contacted the parents.”
Contra Costa Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Bob Atlas said, “We got the call about 5:15 pm that there were four children unconscious in the home. We arrived on scene, Antioch PD retrieved all the children and brought them outside. Con Fire provided medical care and transported all four children to area hospitals for evaluation. No adults were in the home.”
“We don’t know what it was. But we know a lot of things it wasn’t,” he explained. “When it’s a mystery like this we start by ruling out what it isn’t.”
At about 6:30 p.m. Con Fire placed a blower outside the home facing the open front door. “We are currently blowing out the environment for anything that could be potentially harmful,” Atlas added.
The following press release with additional details about the incident was issued Friday afternoon:
According to. Lt. Njoroge of the Field Services Division, “just before 5:00 p.m., officers responded to a welfare check regarding a 2-year-old child who was found alone and outside a home on the 2100 block of Spruce Way by a passerby. Upon arrival, officers discovered the front door of the residence was unsecured. Officers knocked and announced themselves, however nobody responded.
To ensure the child’s safety, officers entered the home and found three additional young children, with no adults present. The children appeared to require medical attention, and Con Fire, along with paramedics, was requested to the scene. All four children were transported to nearby hospitals for further evaluation.
UPDATE: To clarify matters, Lt. Njoroge later said, “Three of the four children were unconscious. The two-year-old seen outside was back in the house by the time officers arrived. But I can’t say which of the four was not unconscious.”
The children’s mother, 36-year-old Shante Alberty, later arrived at the residence and was placed under arrest on child abuse-related charges. She was booked into the Martinez Detention Facility.
After conducting several tests, Con Fire HAZMAT determined the home to be uninhabitable. All four children were medically cleared and placed into the custody of Child and Family Services (CFS).
This information was made available by the Field Services Bureau. Any further inquiries into the status of this case should be done via the Media Access Telephone Line 925-779-6874. Any further information or additional press releases will be provided by the Investigations Bureau.”
According to localcrimenews.com, Alberty has a history of arrests dating back to 2017 including twice last year by Antioch PD and San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department for crimes including battery on a spouse, cohabitant or former spouse, and on Sept. 5, 2024, for possession of a narcotic controlled substance, child endangerment and cruelty to a child by inflicting injury.
According to the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office, she is Black. Also, according to the Sheriff’s Office, the five-foot, eight-inch tall, 175 lb. Alberty was born on March 22, 1988, and is being held on $425,000 bail. She’s being held in the West County Detention Facility.
See exclusive Antioch Herald video of the scene, here.
the attachments to this post:
Police & Fire personnel discuss incident 022025 ADP
Blower outside home 022025
Police & Con Fire Haz Mat personnel & truck 022025 ADP
