Two Kids, Ages 5 and 6, Found Wandering Streets at Night

Two young children were found wandering the streets in Oneco late Tuesday night after their mother said she had dropped them off with their father, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office reports.

The children, ages 5 and 6, were found "in hysterics" and wandering around by a resident in front of her home in the 300 block of 60th Avenue East sometime around 10:15 p.m.

The children, who could only provide deputies with their first names, said they had been with their father when he entered a home somewhere in the Oneco area and left them unattended outside, according to the report. They wandered off and eventually got lost, deputies said.

A search of the neighborhood for the parents was unsuccessful, and the children were taken in by Child Protective Services.

Several hours passed before the children's mother called the sheriff's office in the morning to report them missing, telling deputies she had gone out to do laundry and left the children with their father. "She returned and they were gone," a sheriff's spokesperson said in a media release.

The woman said the father has a drug problem, officials said. He had still not been located as of Wednesday morning, according to the report.

Officials have not released the man's identity or more details.

The investigation is still ongoing.

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