Police: woman left children home alone

REPRINTED COURTESY OF THE SENTINEL

By Tatiana Zarnowski, Sentinel Reporter, December 8, 2006

Police say the 5-year-old son of a woman arrested Tuesday for burglary tried to light a fire under a bed and was smoking cigarettes when he and his three young siblings were left alone.

Carlisle police charged the mother, Melissa Hetrick, 27, with four counts of endangering the welfare of children on Thursday. They say she left her kids, ages 2 to 7, home alone Tuesday after she and her husband were arrested for burglarizing the Kwik Way convenience store in North Middleton Township.

Police say they accompanied a Cumberland County Children and Youth caseworker to Hetrick’s home in the 400 block of North Hanover Street on Tuesday after township police told them the children might be home alone.

Kids found amid smoke

They found Hetrick’s 5- and 7-year-old sons in a smoke-filled upstairs bedroom, where the 5-year-old had been trying to light a fire under the bed and had singed his hair, police say.

Police say none of the children was injured and the home wasn’t damaged, although they note the home was filthy.

Melissa and Brandon Hetrick were charged Tuesday with burglary after police say they broke into the Kwik Way in the 1700 block of Spring Road early in the morning and stole lottery tickets, Newport cigarettes and more than $1,800 in cash. Police say the couple filled a backpack with winning tickets from the heist and tried to cash them at the Nell’s Market next to Kwik Way just after 10 a.m.

Hearing slated

Store personnel, who were aware of the burglary, notified police.

Melissa Hetrick faces charges of burglary, criminal trespass, theft, possessing instruments of a crime and criminal mischief. Brandon Hetrick faces one count of receiving stolen property.

They face a preliminary hearing scheduled January 11 before District Judge Paula Correal.