A Butler man is accused of leaving his two children, ages 8 months and 22 months, home alone Sunday night.

Mikel R. Atkinson Jr., 30, left the baby and infant unattended at his Wick Street home after 10 p.m. when he drove to a friend’s house to pick up the children’s mother, Butler police said.

Police on Monday charged Atkinson with child endangerment, a first-degree misdemeanor.

Authorities were alerted about 10:50 p.m. that two children were alone at the home, according to a police report. When police got there, an officer saw Atkinson and Kaylee Shay walking toward the house, where they both live.

The couple acknowledged they have two children, 8 months old and 22 months old.

The officer heard a small child crying from the second floor of the house, which had no lights on, police said.

Atkinson initially claimed that when he left that night, a neighbor was at the house watching the children. He told Shay the same story when he later drove to pick her up, police said.

But the neighbor contradicted the suspect’s account.

The report noted that the suspect texted the neighbor earlier that evening, asking him to “keep an ear out for the children because (Atkinson) was leaving.”

But the neighbor did not agree to watch or tend to the children, police said.

At some point after the defendant left, the neighbor informed him that he heard a child crying from the home.

“Atkinson replied that the child was trying to fight sleep and to ignore it,” the report said.

When the officer advised Atkinson of the neighbor’s account, Atkinson admitted that he left the children alone when he picked up Shay, according to the police report.

“(He) also admitted to lying to Shay about the neighbor watching the children,” the report said.

Neither court documents nor the police report indicated how long the children were left unsupervised.

The investigating officer was unavailable for comment this morning.