CAMDEN ON GAULEY, W.Va. — In Webster County, a woman was charged after police found drugs in a car seat with an infant while she was in charge of four young children. The woman was reportedly “at an active drug house.”
A criminal charge says that on August 19, troopers from the West Virginia State Police Webster County office were sent to a home on Bay Drive in Camden on Gauley to ensure the residents were okay. Someone called and asked the police to check on Cynidel Hardin, 27, of Cowen. She was “an avid drug user” and was “parked at an active drug house for most of the day” while she was caring for four kids younger than five, according to troopers.
The lawsuit says that Hardin “did have possession of all four children for the entire day” and that she was “presumed to be driving under the influence of heroin” while the kids were in her car.
When police got to the house, they saw an SUV parked in the driveway “with the ignition on” and four kids “in the car alone with no adult present.” Two of the kids were crying and yelling because they didn’t know where Hardin was, and one of them was “holding an open pocket knife.”
While troopers were there, Hardin came out of the house. When a family member came to take the kids from the car, troopers saw a small “zip bag” in a car seat with an infant that had “drug paraphernalia and a small piece of aluminum foil” that they thought contained heroin, according to the complaint.
Hardin has been charged with four counts of child abuse that put a child at risk of getting hurt. The Central Regional Jail is where she is being held.