Parents arrested by UPD officers

Welfare check requested when children did not report to school

A Ukiah couple was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment and drug possession recently after officers allegedly found them unable to care for their two children, the Ukiah Police Department reported.

According to the UPD, officers responded to the 1100 block of West Standley Street around 10:45 a.m. Jan. 8 when a family member requested a welfare check on the couple’s two young children.

According to the family member, the children had been reported absent from school and when the woman tried to call their parents, identified as Steph

anie A. Phillips. 33, and Sean P. Finnegan, 50, her calls went straight to voicemail.

W hen of f ic er s re - sponded to the couple’s home on West Standley Street, the children, aged 3 and 7, answered the door. When asked where their parents were, the children said the adults were in bed and would not wake up. At the request of the officers, the children again tried to get their parents to come to the door, but said they still would not wake up.

Fearing the parents were experiencing a medical emergency, the officers entered the home and found both Phillips and Finnegan in bed. Finnegan reportedly had a pipe used to smoke methamphetamine in his hand, and officers also reportedly saw there were other drugs in the bedroom, including heroin and Xanax, that were easily accessible to the children.

A f ter repeated attempts, the officers were able to awaken the parents and determine they were under the influence of a “mixture of controlled substances,” and the children had been “unsupervised for an unknown period of time, ( placing them) in a situation that was likely to produce great bodily harm or death by having illegal narcotics in the residence that were easily accessible to the children.”

Finnegan and Phillips were arrested on suspicion of child endangerment, being under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of both drug paraphernalia and a controlled substance, and Phillips was also arrested for violating her probation. They were booked into Mendocino County Jail.

Child Protective Services staff responded to take custody of the children, who were later released to the care of other family members.