Around 10:30 Sunday morning Sgt. Gabe Sanders and Deputy Jaden Whitfield responded to the Band Mill area to assist Game and Fisher Officer Ryan Warner after he reported locating a five or six year old girl in the area. The child stated that she was hunger and was headed to her mother’s place of employment in Calico Rock. The officers took her to a place where they suspected she lived and upon arrival the child said the small puppies that came running out belonged to her. The house was approximately one and one half miles from where the child was found.    After knocking on the door for more than five minutes Paul and Cindy Duncan answered the door and stated that the child was their granddaughter.

The child’s mother was contacted at her place of employment and she was asked to report to the sheriff’s office and long with the Duncan couple. Paul and Cindy Duncan of the Band Mill area were cited for endangering the welfare of minor and given a court date. Both tested positive for marijuana and methamphetamine at the time they were cited. A DHS social worker was contacted and released the child to the mother with instructions that the child not be left alone with the grandparents due to their neglect.

News Release, For Immediate Release, February 24, 2014, POC: Sheriff Lawrence, 8703684203