A 34-year-old man has been charged with two felony counts of endangering the welfare of children after allegedly allowing two small children police say he was babysitting to wander away from home.
In a news release Thursday, Hellertown Police said Elvin Mendez-Vasquez, with no known address, was watching the children while their parents were at work when they allegedly wandered off on the morning of July 3.
The children–described as a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl–were subsequently found shoeless in the 400 block of Cherry Lane, police said.
Police identified the individual who found them and contacted authorities as a “good Samaritan” who “was passing by the area.”
Northampton County Children and Youth Services assisted officers in their subsequent “lengthy investigation,” police said, and the children were later successfully reunited with their family.
According to the news release Mendez-Vasquez, who police said was acting “as a caregiver,” was determined by investigators to have been “negligent in his responsibilities” to watch over them.
“This lapse allowed for the opportunity for the children to get outside and wander,” the release stated.
“Also, at no point in time in the hours it took to locate and contact the parents did (Mendez-Vasquez) realize they had gotten out,” police added.
According to county court records, following a July 3 preliminary arraignment on the charges before District Judge Alan Mege, Mendez-Vasquez was committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $20,000 straight bail.
The court docket filed in his case shows that bail in that amount was posted by a professional bondsman from Allentown the following day.
Mendez-Vazquez is being represented by attorney Steven Mills of Asteak Law Offices of Easton, the docket also shows.
As of Thursday, his next scheduled court appearance was a preliminary hearing to be held before Mege in District Court 03-2-04 in Lower Saucon Township on Wednesday, July 26 at 11:30 a.m.
Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from the Hellertown Police Department and Northampton County Court records.
