DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — A Harrisburg woman has been arrested on child endangerment charges for leaving several of her young children home alone in order to go on a date, according to the Lower Swatara Township Police Department.
Police responded to the Willow Farms Trailer Park around 2:20 p.m. on Oct. 27 for reports of three children, aged 2, 4 and 8, who had been left home alone and a fourth child, age 6, appeared to be missing.
Neighbors were concerned when the eldest child told them their mother had left them alone to go on a date and that he could not find one of his siblings. The youngest sibling was found wandering the street alone several blocks from the children's residence.
When officers arrived at the home, they found the 2-year-old standing on a chair to look into the freezer. They allegedly told police they were hungry and looking for food.
The LSTPD says the children were "living in deplorable conditions." In an affidavit of probable cause, officers noted the children's clothes were dirty and diapers soiled, and there was dog feces all over the floor, which was not visible due to the amount of clothes, garbage and rotting food strewn about. The only bathroom in the home was allegedly rendered unusable by feces filling it to the brim.
Officers say there were also half-filled pill bottles laying around the residence in easy reach of the children.
Police called the mother, Heather Ordaz, who was able to confirm that she had the allegedly missing 6-year-old with her.
When Ordaz returned to the residence, she allegedly claimed that she had left the kids in the care of a friend at 5 a.m. that morning. She could not produce a last name, address or phone number for the alleged friend when police asked. Officers say the kids did not mention the friend watching them while talking with members of the LSTPD.
Dauphin County Children and Youth came to take the children into protective custody.
Ordaz is charged with two felony and one misdemeanor count of endangering welfare of children - parent/guardian/other commits offense, court documents show. She is next scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 6.
