Police: 6 children abandoned at Old Town Pavillion

Six children, including an infant, were found abandoned at the Old Town Pavillion just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pocatello Police said.

Police said it happened at the “Revive At Five” concert series.

Capt. Steve Stone said a person who wasn’t the children’s parent called police and told them a man had left the children and hadn’t returned.

Police eventually located the man, who turned out to be the father of only two of the children. The mother of the other four had left them with him and was out of town at the time, Stone said.

“If you send your children out, know who they’re going with. Know where they’re going to be, know how they’re gonna be taken care of,” Stone said.

Stone said temperatures were still in the 90s Wednesday night and some of the children didn’t have shoes.

“They didn’t appear to be cared for,” Stone said.

Three Pocatello police officers took the children back to the police station where they waited with them for the next several hours for their parents to arrive — even keeping them entertained.

“It’s not unusual that they would go above and beyond to try to help those children, make sure they’re taken care of,” Stone said.

The parents of two of the children have been identified by police as Terry Smith and Linda Williams. They’ve both been charged with misdemeanor injury to a child.

Police said the parents of the other four children haven’t been charged.