A Hempfield woman was arrested Monday after state police said a 2-year-old girl was found wandering alone outside her Route 136 home last month, according to court papers.
Carmen S. Riffer, 20, is facing a single charge of felony child endangerment.
Troopers were called to the Fort Allen section of Hempfield at 9:45 a.m. July 7 after a motorist reported the girl, who was wearing only a diaper, walking in the street. The motorist stopped and said he watched the girl sit down about 3 feet from the road for about 10 minutes before going back inside, according to court papers.
Police said Riffer was inside sleeping and didn’t know the child was awake and outside, according to court papers. There were no gates or other means to stop the girl from exiting the home, police said.
The girl was “dirty from head to toe” and her diaper needed to be changed, according to arrest papers. Troopers reported that Riffer’s home was full of food wrappers, animal feces and flies. The girl left with a relative.
Riffer is free on $50,000 unsecured bail. She could not be reached and did not have an attorney listed in online court records. An Aug. 13 preliminary hearing is set.
That area of Route 136 is traveled by an average of 6,000 vehicles daily, according to PennDOT traffic volume maps.
