Cops: East Huntingdon woman left 2 young children 'in deplorable conditions'

A 25-year-old East Huntingdon woman was arrested early Saturday after state troopers found her two children, both under age 4, alone inside her apartment “in deplorable conditions.”

Danielle R. Thompson, who lives in Huntingdon Village apartments, was charged with two counts each of child endangerment and recklessly endangering another person and was being held in the county prison after failing to post $50,000 bail.

Thompson’s two children were removed from her apartment about 9:15 p.m. Friday and turned over to the custody of the Westmoreland County Children’s Bureau. Troopers completing a welfare check discovered the children alone in the apartment and “visibly hungry and with their diapers dirty,” Trooper Zachary Wolford said in court documents.

Wolford said troopers were called because neighbors heard “one of the toddlers” crying for approximately 15 minutes.

When police arrived, Wolford said the door was unlocked and open and officers saw the apartment was being heated by an oven.

“The oven door was open … the oven racks were orange as it was on and running as a form of heat. One child was found sleeping on the carpet floor next to a pile of toys with a pillow and blanket but no shirt on,” Wolford said.

Wolford said the temperature inside the apartment was 80 degrees.

The second child was found in a bedroom crib unbathed and wearing dirty clothes.

“The bedroom was stacked with piles of debris … the kitchen and bedroom were stacked with debris and unsanitary. It should be noted the kids were visibly hungry,” Wolford wrote in court documents.

Troopers immediately telephoned the children’s bureau.

Wolford reported Thompson called state police in Greensburg at 6:39 a.m. Saturday to report her children were missing. She later told police that she left the children at the apartment because she was working.

A preliminary hearing will be scheduled before East Huntingdon District Judge Charles Moore.