YORK COUNTY — State Police have charged a Red Lion woman with endangering the welfare of children and possession of a controlled substance after she allegedly admitted to huffing from a compressed air dusting canister because she needed a break from her two three-year-old children, who were left alone while she was passed out.
Jessica Frances Winand, 36, of the 500 block of West Broadway, was charged Monday after police performing a welfare check found her “semi-conscious” in the driver’s seat of her vehicle, which was parked outside her home, according to a criminal complaint affidavit.
Winand had a compressed air dusting canister in her lap when she was found by police, the complaint states. She was “confused and dazed” in appearance, with “red, watery eyes and slow speech,” the arresting trooper noted in the complaint.
Police say Winand admitted that she was inhaling from the air dusting canister to get high, because “her children were acting up, and she needed to get away,” according to the complaint.
A neighbor told police one of the children came and told her something was wrong with his mother, the complaint states. The neighbor found Winand passed out on the floor inside her home, where both children were alone, police say. The neighbor called the children’s father, who in turn called their grandmother, according to police.
When the grandmother arrived at Winand’s house, she was no longer present, and the children were alone inside, police say. The grandmother went outside, found Winand passed out in the car, and notified police, according to the complaint.
Winand was taken into custody, and the children were released to their grandmother, police say.
