Police: Children Left Home Alone While Parents Visit Methadone Clinic
WESTMORELAND COUNTY (KDKA) – The children were both sleeping in their beds.
But they were all alone and their parents are now facing charges.
"Surprised," said neighbor Paula Dolan.
That's how neighbors reacted when they learned that 4- and 5-year-old children had been left alone in their Menoher Way home in Greensburg.
The reason: their parents were at a methadone clinic.
Jeffrey Thomas, 29, and Amber Johnston, 28, didn't answer the door when KDKA's Trina Orlando visited Tuesday.
They are each facing a charge of endangering the welfare of children.
"I mean, I don't know her that well, but had she been stuck, I would've tried to help some way," Dolan said.
Police were called to the home by the children's father, who found them alone when he stopped by to get his belongings.
The children's mother says she left to pawn off her boyfriend's computer, after another woman drove him to the methadone clinic.
Police say both parents admitted to being at the clinic at the time.
Methadone is commonly used in a clinic setting to treat withdrawal symptoms in people who are addicted to heroin or other narcotics.
"I mean, it's kids, you don't know what kids are going to do nowadays and you don't know -- people's kidnapping kids -- so, you don't do that," said neighbor Tammy Robinson.
According to police, the Children's Bureau said that if the parents were sober, the children should be left in their custody – and a caseworker would open an investigation.
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