Borough Man Charged with Child Endangerment

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to indicate that Charles Robert Ford was committed to Northampton County Prison after failing to post $5,000 bail, according to records.

A Hellertown man who was with a woman even though she has a protection from abuse order against him has been accused of endangering the welfare of his three children by allowing them to play in the dark at the while he pumped gas nearby, in a location where he could not see them, police said.

"The children were old enough and did not need supervision," the suspect, Charles Robert Ford, 37, told police Tuesday night as he pumped gas into a green minivan at the at Easton Road and Main Street. The children are a 12-year-old boy, a seven-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, according to court records.

A woman identified as Jenna C. Ford then got out of the minivan and “screamed” at borough patrolman Tim Piotrowski, “You have no authority to tell us what to do with our children, they are old enough,” the records say.

The records do not identify Jenna Ford and Charles Ford as husband and wife, but they say a PFA that is active in Bucks County was brought by Jenna Ford against Charles Ford, whose address is listed as 419 Cherry St. in the borough. Jenna Ford also was identified as the operator of the minivan.

According to the charges filed against Charles Ford by Piotrowski:

--At 8:49pm, Piotrowski saw “three small juveniles” running and jumping off ledges at the borough water fountain at Easton Road and Main Street, without adult presence or supervision. He said they “were running around the open water at the fountain and near the sidewalk next to busy traffic.”

--He went to see if any adults were supervising them “due to the time of day being dark, busy traffic on both streets and (the) age of (the) juveniles.”

--Ford, he alleged, allowed the children “to wander out of his direct view approximately 75 yards distance and play near a public fountain near a busy public street unsupervised.” He said the children were out of view of any adults because the area of the fountain is “bordered at the north side by a clock tower and hedges.”

--Piotrowski asked the seven-year-old where his parents were. All three children then ran toward the Lukoil parking lot through the hedges to the minivan, where Ford was pumping gas.

Ford was charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of children and a PFA violation. After he failed to post bail in the amount of $5,000, records indicate that Ford was committed to Northampton County Prison.