DUBOIS- A DuBois couple facing felony charges after their two young children walked to Sheetz because they were hungry were scheduled for preliminary hearings Friday.
DuBois City police charged Ashley Lee Lewis, 29, and Arden Carl Barber, 35, each with a felony count of endangering the welfare of a child as well as a misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with an incident on Aug. 6 at 12:32 p.m.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, police were called to the store on North Brady Street to check on two children, approximately five and six-years-old who said they were there to “get food for mom and dad.”
The boy was naked from the waist down, wearing only a winter hat and a t-shirt.
When asked by the officers where their parents were, they said they were at home. The girl was able to give her name and stated “they were hungry so they were going to get food,” police said.
A witness who called police reportedly said they saw the two children walking down East Park Avenue, and past the fire hall, before crossing into the Sheetz parking lot.
In the criminal complaint, it was noted that the store is known to be busy and East Park Avenue was heavy with traffic at that time.
When police spoke with the parents at their East Park Avenue residence, Barber explained that they were sleeping while the children were downstairs on their tablets.
He said the children had kept them awake until 5 a.m. that morning and they wanted to sleep, according to the affidavit.
There are double locks on the doors so the kids can’t get out, because this has happened before, he said.
The girl is six-years-old and the boy is four-years-old.
Both Lewis and Barber waived their rights to a preliminary hearing during centralized court at District Judge David Meholick’s office in DuBois, sending the cases on to the county court. They are free on $5,000, unsecured bail each.
