Mother facing charges in the death of baby

The mother of a 9-month-old girl who died June 21 at a residence near Onamia now faces criminal charges. Charges have already been filed against the girl's father.

The Mille Lacs County attorney's office this week issued a summons for 19-year-old Kelly Jean Friend to appear in court on two charges of gross misdemeanor child endangerment and a count of misdemeanor underage consumption.

Friend's daughter, Tila Friend-Ballinger, was found by Friend unresponsive at the house of her significant other and Tila's father, Lance Marshall Ballinger, 23, Onamia. The baby was later pronounced dead.

On June 26 Ballinger was charged with two counts of felony domestic assault, three counts of neglect of a child, three counts of endangerment of a child and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to the criminal complaint filed against Friend summoning her to appear in court:

• On June 21 officers responded to Friend's Onamia residence on a report of an unresponsive child. Upon arrival, officers identified Tila and reported she was deceased.

• Officers determined Tila had been at Ballinger's Onamia home and that Friend had picked her up about 5 a.m. and took her to Friend's home. Friend told police she found Tila in a bedroom with Ballinger and that she could not wake Tila up. Ballinger appeared to be passed out, Friend told police.

• In an interview with an investigator, Friend stated she had earlier been at Ballinger's residence and had been consuming alcohol with him. They got into an argument and she left about midnight, leaving Tila at Ballinger's home. Friend also left her 2-year-old child at Ballinger's home. Two of Ballinger's other young children also were at the residence.

• Officers secured Ballinger's home and interviewed Ballinger, who had a .201 alcohol content. He confirmed he and Friend were drinking alcohol together and he said that he went to bed about 9:30 p.m. A witness said Friend, Ballinger and Ballinger's 14-year-old sister had been drinking at the residence.

• Officers observed the residence was messy and dirty and had a foul odor. There were no clean dishes in the house and little food. Officers were only able to locate a jar of peanut butter and rice cereal to feed the children still there. There were alcohol bottles and containers throughout the house. Ballinger's two small children were dirty.

• In another interview, Friend admitted to police that Ballinger had assaulted her before she left his residence, that she left her children there and that others also were consuming alcohol.

Mille Lacs County Attorney Jan Kolb said Friend has not been arrested and no court date for her to appear on the summons has been set.

Kolb said the charges Friend faces are the result of the conditions in which she left her children.

"The conditions and the fact that she left two children there without proper supervision," Kolb said. "Everyone appeared to be intoxicated when she left, which placed (the children) in an endangered situation as well."

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.