The Pulaski sheriff’s office has charged a Dixon Road couple with child endangerment after finding their 1- and 3-year-old children wandering in the road.

Arrested were Ricky Alan Odom, 37, and Linda Michelle Odom, 39, of 1210 Dixon Road. Both were charged with two counts of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor.

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A report on the incident said a woman driving on Dixon Road near Mills Highway stopped about 8 p.m. Sunday after almost hitting two children walking in the road. She said she’d been there 30 minutes and no adults appeared. The youngest child was covered in dirt and sweat and wearing only a diaper that appeared not to have been changed recently. The older child also was described as dirty and sweaty and wearing a diaper.

The deputy called for an ambulance. A vehicle pulled up whose occupant knew the parents and went to alert them. About 50 minutes after the initial call to the sheriff’s office, Ricky Odom came running up. He said he’d been asleep and thought his wife had been caring for the children. His wife arrived shortly after. She said she, too, had been asleep and speculated the older child climbed on something to unlatch a door to get out. A deputy reported bruising on the children and what appeared to be old cigarette burns on the legs of one child.

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The children were taken to Children’s Hospital and placed in state custody. 

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