Two children — ages 2 and 3 — are safe after they were found wandering the streets of Gilmanton, New Hampshire, carrying a drug pipe and a lighter.
Gilmanton Police said a Good Samaritan came to the police station shortly after 10 a.m. Wednesday with two young children she found walking a street in the area of Sawyer Lake.
One of the children was found walking with only a diaper and shoes on, and the other was wearing a diaper, shoes and a light dress. One of them was found carrying a glass drug pipe and a lighter.
It was about 10 a.m. Wednesday when a woman driving by stopped to help.
"The two year old was wearing nothing but a diaper and shoes and the three year old was holding a drug pipe and a lighter," Sgt. Brennan explained.
Local parents are outraged.
"It's sickening," said Angela Viera. "It's really sickening."
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Police connected necn with the good Samaritan who found the children.
"Well, I was mortified," said Jean, a Massachusetts resident who was in Gilmanton looking at a piece of property near Sawyer Lake. She didn't want her last name publicized, but she spoke with necn over the phone.
"I just wanted them to be safe, that was my main concern, that they were someplace safe," Jean said.
So, she put them in her car and took them to police.
"Everybody in the police department has children so it really kind of hit home," Brennan said. "How lucky it was that she found them."
Police say there is a small beach less than an eighth of a mile from where the children were found.
For some parents, that's even scarier than carrying a glass bong and lighter.
"Because it's very dangerous," said Gilmanton grandmother Ann Arington. "It could be your worst nightmare."
It took police and Division of Children, Youth and Families about an hour to find the children's mother, who they say was still sleeping. It turns out that the mom and her two kids had been staying at a friend's house in the area.
Police say they notified the toddlers' biological father, who drove from out of state right away to be reunited with his children.
"I wasn't here for that, but I know as a father, how grateful I would be," Brennan said.
Police tell necn the drug paraphernalia came from home where children were staying.
Officials say charges against the mother are forthcoming.
