Two Marion County men were arrested last Friday after they were found unresponsive in their home while three children, ages 2 and younger, had easy access to hypodermic needles, heroin and fentanyl.
Originally, Marion County sheriff's deputies arrived at the home because one of the men, 28-year-old Richard Taylor, was wanted for petit theft and resisting a merchant, deputies say.
When they arrived, they found the 2-year-old outside with only a shirt on and no bottoms. The 2-year-old told deputies that adults were inside the home.
While knocking, deputies say they heard another child cry inside of the home. Deputies say they found another entrance where they located a second child with a soiled diaper. The second child was not the child that was crying inside, deputies said.
After several attempts at knocking and getting an adult's attention, deputies entered the home to check on the crying child only to find Taylor passed out in the bedroom, they said. In another bedroom, they located a second adult man, 44-year-old William Johnson, also passed out, they added.
Deputies woke up Taylor to take him into custody and asked if he had anything on his person. Taylor handed deputies a bag of heroin. They also discovered 25 uncapped needles on his dresser and "within reach of the toddlers," they said.
Deputies also took Johnson into custody after they discovered 10 uncapped needles. After, they located aluminum that contained a brown substance, which later tested positive for heroin and fentanyl, deputies said.
Taylor was arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect, possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was also charged with petit theft and resisting arrest from the previous warrant.
Johnson was arrested and charged with three counts of child neglect and possession of drug paraphernalia.
