Three Sacramento residents were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment when deputies found five children ages 1 to 13 in what was described as a makeshift wooden box affixed to a truck bed in the Colorado River town of Needles on the California-Arizona border, authorities said Wednesday, May 13.
The box the children were found in shortly after 2 p.m.Tuesday had “no ventilation, water, or air conditioning” and the outside temperature was around 100 degrees. The children had no restraints as they rode in the box, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
Deputies had received a report about “small children riding in the bed of a pick-up truck inside a small crate,” that had been spotted along Interstate 40 near the Fenner Rest Area, west of Needles. The truck was stopped at Bailey Avenue and J Street in Needles.
“Illegal narcotics, drug paraphernalia and a shotgun were also located in the vehicle,” the department said.
The children were released to the care of San Bernardino County Children and Family Services, sheriff’s spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said. There was no immediate word on their condition.
Taken into custody were Kenneth Standridge, 40, Zona Brasier, 39, and Aushajuan Hardy, 41, all of Sacramento, deputies said.
Standridge was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, being a felon in possession of a firearm and driving under the influence, and was in custody in lieu of posting bond on $75,000 bail; Brasier was arrested for investigation of child endangerment. She was being held on $150,000 bail.
Hardy was on Post Release Community Supervision and named in a no-bail felony warrant, and was in custody on suspicion of child endangerment and held on the warrant.
