Two women were arrested Thursday after a two-year-old was found wandering alone in an apartment building, wearing only a diaper, according to police.

Dee Ann Parks, 53, and 28-year-old Sherra Danielson were each arrested on recommended charges of possession of methamphetamine and two counts of child endangerment with methamphetamine. Danielson also faces a recommended charge of marijuana possession.

According to an affidavit, officers responded to the 2300 Bock of East 18th Street at roughly 9:30 a.m. Thursday after an apartment resident reported having found the two-year-old alone. The reporting party took the child into her apartment to get the child out of the cold, but was unable to find a parent or guardian.

The child, police observed, appeared to be developmentally disabled. He was completely non-verbal and was unable to show officers where he lived.

As one officer contacted the Department of Family Services, Parks returned to the apartment building, walking a dog. She went to her apartment, discovered the child was missing and notified the officer.

Parks woke Danielson, who explained to officers that she worked the night shift and must've fallen asleep, allowing the child to escape.

An officer explained to Parks that police had concerns for the child's safety and welfare. Parks allowed him into the apartment for a child welfare check.

Danielson and Parks denied the presence of methamphetamine inside the apartment, and Danielson claimed it had been several weeks since she used. Police discovered that at the moment she was on state probation and parole for child endangerment with methamphetamine.

A urine sample from Danielson returned a positive result for methamphetamine. A search of the residence turned up glass pipes with meth residue, "tooters" used to snort the drug and a homemade socket pipe with marijuana residue.

An officer asked Danielson why she kept her controlled substances so close to the area where the two children played and slept. Danielson allegedly admitted that the drug paraphernalia belonged to her.

In an unlocked lock box on the side of a bed where Parks and a child slept, police found three empty baggies with methamphetamine residue. Parks allegedly admitted that she had used meth four days prior.

Police noted that all of the drugs and paraphernalia were located within "extremely easy reach of either child."

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