Oct 22, 2016 2 min read

Police from McDonald and Mt. Pleasant Township police went to an apartment in Midway Friday night looking for a wanted person they believed was staying there but instead found two young children living in deplorable conditions.

Jessica Nicole Samples, the mother of the 1-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy, was arrested by McDonald police on two counts of endangering the welfare of children and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Police went to Samples’ apartment at 102 Noblestown Road about 10 p.m. looking for the wanted person after getting a tip. Officers knocked on the door, and the 25-year-old Samples reportedly invited them in and allowed them to search the apartment. Police said they found a stamp bag of suspected heroin on the bed and three more stamp bags on the bedroom floor. A suspected marijuana pipe and grinder were found on a dresser, police said.

Police said the children were living in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. The girl was in a broken portable playpen. She had red eyes and what appeared to be a rash around her mouth, police said.

The boy told police that he was itchy from the cat hair on his clothing. He also reportedly told police that he could not remember the last time he had eaten. Police said there was very little food in the apartment.

Fly strips covered with dead flies were hanging from the apartment ceiling, police said. There also was a dirty cat litter box in the apartment.

Police contacted Washington County Children and Youth Services. The children were released to the custody of Samples’ mother and sister.

Samples was arraigned before District Judge David Mark and placed in Washington County Jail on $25,000 bond. She is scheduled for a Nov. 3 preliminary hearing before District Judge Gary Havelka.