Father Faces Child Endangerment Charges After 3 Young Children Left Home Alone

By: Shelley Bortz

BRADDOCK (KDKA) - The father of three small children is facing charges after his children were found at home all by themselves.

The chief of police in Braddock says the children, ages 2, 3 and 4, are safe tonight but what happened is unacceptable.

Police Chief Guy Collins said it all started with a 911 call around 1:30 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Dispatch could not make contact with anyone but heard loud noises in the background so officers were sent to the home for a welfare check.

Once they arrived, they found three small children home alone.

The officers waited roughly 15 minutes before they took the children to the police station.

Collins said about 25 minutes later, the father, Stewart Townsend, called the station to report his children missing.

"At which time we informed him that they were down here and we requested that he come down here and he refused," Collins explained. "We requested the mother and she refused. This went on for about 15 minutes, he kept calling back with excuses of where he was and why he wasn't home. End result, he never came down."

The children are currently in the custody of CYF. Townsend is facing three counts of child endangerment.