Young Kids Walk to St Paul Store For Food

St. Paul, MN (Minnesota News Network) - Three small children are in the hands of child protection workers, after two of them walked into a St. Paul gas station earlier this week looking for food.

Employees and customers of the gas station called police after a four-year-old boy and his two-year-old sister came in to buy food but didn't have enough money to pay for it.

Investigators say they were hungry and dirty, and when they went to the home they found it without electricity and littered with beer cans -- and the smell of feces and urine dominated the house. The fridge contained rotten food and the toilet was backed up. The father, 30-year-old Darrell Demarrias, was awakened by officers who say he appeared to be drunk. The mother was not home.

Demarrias has been charged with child endangerment and neglect. The mother, 28-year-old Lydia Godfrey, has been charged with neglect but police have not yet found her.