MISSING CHILDREN REUNITED WITH PARENTS

By Jon Mayhew (LINCOLNTON) -- Police officers worked diligently in a pair of separate missing children cases over the weekend, where children were reunited with their parents in less than an hour in each case.

And in each case, the parents of the missing children had entrusted the care of very young children to older siblings.

The first incident happened Saturday around 11am, where Sgt. Willie Vaughn received word a two-year-old child was seen wandering down Little Street.

“I was told the child was at a residence in the 300 block of Little Street,” said Vaughn, adding the residence is the home of off-duty Lincoln County Sheriff’s officer Tammy Ballard.

Ballard told Vaughn and The Carolina Scoop a neighbor doing laundry noticed the child and brought the little girl to Ballard’s residence.

“I was cleaning house,” said Ballard, “when I heard a knock at my door.”

Ballard cared for the child as Vaughn started a one-man intensive canvas of the Little Street neighborhood.

Vaughn’s canvas of house after house was on foot.

“I was told by one neighbor that a girl and the toddler came to the neighbor’s house yesterday,” said Vaughn.

The investigation to find the child’s residence continued at a residence on Huss Street.

“I’m determined to find this child’s home,” Vaughn said after talking to a few neighbors.

At the first residence Vaughn came to on Huss Street, an 11-year-old girl verified the child’s description.

Vaughn said the 11-year-old lived across the street. He learned from talking to the parents they just moved to the neighborhood Friday.

“The mother said her 11-year-old was supposed to be watching the 2-year-old,” said Vaughn. “The kids were playing on the back deck and the 11-year-old went across the street, leaving her younger sister.”

Within minutes, Ballard and Vaughn returned the child to the waiting arms of the mother.

“I’m glad it ended this way,” said Ballard.

Vaughn said the parents were unpacking their home.

“It could have been bad if the child tried to cross Huss Street due to the traffic,” said Vaughn, adding it was about 45 minutes from the time the incident was reported to the child being returned home.

The second incident happened around noon in the 500 block of Sherrill Avenue.

One of the parents of a 10-year-old and two year old was preparing food and washing laundry when she turned around and noticed her two children missing.

Officer Dave Mocanu responded, with assistance from several officers, and located the two children playing at a friend’s house nearly a half-hour after the children were reported missing.

The two children were reunited with their parents.

In both cases, officers prepared to use reverse 911 in order to inform neighbors of the missing children. In at least one of the cases -- the Saturday incident -- reverse 911 was canceled because the child’s residence was located by officers.

No charges will be filed in either case.