Biological Mom of Girl Allegedly Locked in Ankeny Basement by Adoptive Parents Says She Wants Her Daughter Back

The biological mother of a girl whose adoptive parents are accused of locking her and another child in the basement of their Ankeny home has come forward and is saying she wants her daughter back, according to several media outlets.

June Simpson, 36, of Truro told the Des Moines Register Thursday that her daughter told Simpson and others four years ago that JoAnn Drake of Ankeny had physically abused the girl while she was living as a foster child in the Drake home. A judge was among those the girl told about the alleged abuse, Simpson told the Register.

Paul Drake, 45, and JoAnn Drake, 44, are each charged with two counts of neglect or abandonment of a dependent person and two counts of false imprisonment. Police said the couple allegedly locked their adopted boy and girl, ages 14 and 13, in a basement room for a period of three to four weeks and fed them under the locked door, KCCI Channel 8 reported.

The children were locked in the room after school and on weekends, police told the TV station.

They were released from the Polk County Jail Wednesday afternoon, according to the jail's website.

Simpson told both the Register and KCCI her parental rights were terminated while she and her ex-husband were going through a divorce, but she never harmed her children.

Simpson told the Register this wasn't the first time her daughter was mistreated by the Drakes.

"Me and my ex-husband we definitely failed her, but DHS has failed her, the court system failed her. Everyone who is supposed to protect her has basically failed her," Simpson said in an interview with KCCI.

DHS officials told KCCI that due to child protection laws they cannot comment on a specific case, but if the daughter made that kind of accusation, they would have followed up on it. However, they told KCCI it's possible they could not substantiate the claim.