MERCER TWP — A township father has a date in court next week on a child endangerment charge after his two toddler children were found unattended and walking in the street near their home.

The suspect, 30-year-old Richard Edward Jones Jr., was sleeping Monday morning when his children, 2 and 3 years old, wandered off, state police said.

The two tots apparently used an open window for their getaway.

Troopers arrested Jones after a passing motorist about 9:25 a.m. found the children on Route 8 and Shields Road in Mercer Township.

The motorist told police he spotted one child running onto Route 8, according to court documents. He got out of his car and carried the child off the road.

Moments later, he saw the other toddler run across Shields Road. He got that child, too.

The good Samaritan took both kids to safety at a nearby parking lot, and called police.

When police got to Jones’ apartment, they looked inside the open window and saw him asleep on the couch, documents said.

Troopers had to wake him up. He admitted that he didn’t know where his children were.

Police noted in their criminal complaint that one of the toddlers had an “overflowing diaper.” Both were wearing soiled clothes and were “filthy and had dirt all over their faces and hair.”

The troopers checked the refrigerator and found nothing inside except condiments.

Police said the Butler County Children & Youth Services agency took custody of Jones’ children.

He was later arraigned on the first-degree misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of children, and placed in the Butler County Prison on $15,000 bail.

A preliminary hearing is set for 1 p.m. Wednesday at the office of District Judge Tim Shaffer in Slippery Rock.