Police: Mother left 1-, 2-year-old home alone to go buy lunch

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A local woman has been charged after allegedly leaving her 1- and 2-year-old children alone in a Moon Township apartment.

Police went to the apartment to serve Dayra Figueroa-Andino with a warrant failing to appear in court for a domestic abuse case.

“When they went to execute the warrant, they knocked on the door,” said Police Chief Greg Seamon.  “No one answered, but a young child on the inside started saying, ‘Mom, mom.’”

He said when police went into the apartment, they saw two very young children with soiled diapers and no adult watching them. Officers also found dangerous situations for the children around the home.

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“Cigarette lighters, there was a fan that had some of the covering missing,” Seamon said. “They could put their fingers into beer bottles. A lot of things laying around the apartment.”

Police told Channel 11 that Figuero-Andino eventually came home while police were there and said she was at the grocery store buying fried chicken and milk.

Police charged Figuero-Andino with endangering the welfare of children and providing false information to police, and arrested her.

"It's not ever OK to leave children that young home alone," Seamon said.

Police told Channel 11 they don’t know how long the children were alone, but we timed the drive between the apartment and the grocery store at about five minutes each way.

The children’s father could not be located so the children were taken to a hospital to be evaluated and placed in the care of Children, Youth and Families.

Cox Media Group