Two parents from Shenandoah are facing felony child endangerment charges after police allegedly found them passed out in their vehicle, along with their three children, heroin and needles.
According to the criminal complaint, Hatfield Township Police were stopped in the parking lot of Wawa, located along the 100 block of Bethlehem Pike, at 2:25 a.m. on Sept. 24 when an officer allegedly observed a male in a Ford Explorer slumped over the steering wheel while the vehicle was running. Police said they observed an uncapped syringe and metal spoon with white residue in the lap of the male, at which point they made contact with the driver — identified as 28-year-old Nathaniel Lehman.
Lehman was immediately removed from the vehicle and detained without incident, police said. Police also observed Lehman’s three children in the vehicle, all under the age of 5 years old, as well as the children’s mother — identified as 25-year-old Ashley Craig.
When asked if there was any heroin inside the vehicle, Lehman reportedly pointed to a box that had been on his lap, police said. Inside of the box, police recovered nearly 60 small bags of heroin along with numerous empty syringes, all of which Lehman said were his, the report states.
Craig was also detained by police, at which point she allegedly stated that she and Lehman had traveled to the Philadelphia area to purchase heroin, and they were on their way back home when they decided to stop in the Wawa parking lot to take a break, the report states.
As a result of the incident:
Both Lehman and Craig were arraigned on Sept. 24 by Magisterial District Judge Andrea Duffy, who set bail for both parents at $20,000 cash. Lehman and Craig were both remanded to county jail after failing to post bail, and they both have preliminary hearings scheduled for Oct. 6 in front of Judge Duffy.
(All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.)
See also:
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