CLEARFIELD – A Brockway man, whose two young children walked to Sheetz because they were hungry, pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of children during colloquy court on Monday.
DuBois City police charged Arden Carl Barber, 36, and his wife, Ashley Lee Lewis Barber, 30, 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, 2023 at 12:32 p.m.
Arden Barber pleaded guilty to only the misdemeanor charge, and was sentenced to serve six months to 18 months in jail with three years concurrent probation by Judge Paul E. Cherry.
Ashley Barber also pleaded guilty to the same charge in July when she was sentenced to complete three years probation by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman.
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, Arden 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 was six-years-old and the boy was four-years-old at the time of the incident.