Jul 6, 2017 3 min read

An Alabama woman was arrested Monday by North Strabane police on a charge of endangering the welfare of children after her 16-year-old son, who has Down syndrome, was found at a hotel more than a block away from the hotel where she and her children were staying.

Rose Mary Meeks, 44, of New Market, was taken into custody several hours after her son was found.

Police were called just before 6 a.m. to the Holiday Inn Express, 810 Meadow Drive, for a report of a man lying on the lobby floor. He was not wearing shoes or a shirt. Police were able to get only limited information from him. He was taken to Canonsburg Hospital to be evaluated. Police contacted local school districts and hotels in the area, trying to determine his identity, but they had no luck.

Several hours later, police again canvassed the hotels in the Racetrack Road area. Sgt. David Richards found a family member who was looking for the 16-year-old boy about 11:30 a.m. The family member told Richards that the boy’s mother, identified as Meeks, was staying in a separate room from her children on a different floor at Cambria Suites, 451 Racetrack Road.

Meeks told police that the family arrived at the hotel late Saturday. She reportedly told police that she was very tired and did not see her children before going to bed. When she awoke about 9:30 a.m., she told police that she called her children’s room but got no answer.

According to police, at 11 a.m., Meeks’ 15-year-old daughter came to her room and said that the 16-year-old was missing. Meeks reportedly contacted the front desk and asked that they give her about “30 minutes to figure out what (we) are going to do.”

Other family members searched the area for the boy. Police indicated in court documents that Meeks never called 911 because this is a pattern with her son.

Police said she never asked officers about her son’s health or status, nor asked to see him at the hospital. Richards said the 16-year-old boy likely had been out for several hours and had probably walked to the other hotel.

Police contacted Washington County Children and Youth Services, which took custody of the 16-year-old boy, 15-year-old girl and another of Meeks’ daughters, as well as a boy who also was with the group. His parents were contacted in Alabama.

Meeks was arraigned before District Judge Jay Weller. She was released from Washington County jail Wednesday after posting $10,000 bond. Meeks is scheduled for a July 11 preliminary hearing before Weller.