69.0°,
A Few Clouds Too cold to sell candy
Man charged with 11 counts of child endangerment
A Centereach man was arrested in Elmont on Saturday on child-endangerment charges after allegedly sending a group of nearly a dozen 12- to 15-year-olds out unaccompanied to sell candy.
Jule Huston Jr., 25, of Tree Road, was charged with 11 counts of child endangerment after being called to the Nassau County Police Department’s 5th Precinct station house in Elmont by two young people who had been entrusted to his care.
A 5th Precinct police officer was on patrol in Franklin Square at 6:10 p.m. on Saturday when she saw a girl and boy standing on the corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Carl Avenue by themselves. According to police, the officer thought it was unusual that the children — the girl was 12 and the boy 13 — were out by themselves in extremely cold and windy conditions. The temperature Saturday night fell to 14 degrees, and the wind chill dipped into the single digits.
The patrol officer found out that the two children were selling candy for the New York Youth Club, and had allegedly been dropped off by Huston, their supervisor. One of the children called Huston on his cell phone and asked him to meet them at the police station. He arrived with two more children, a 14-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. After a short investigation, police determined that those children, as well, had been sent out to sell candy without an accompanying adult.
According to police, Huston attempted to flee the station house, but officers chased him down, arrested him, charged him with four counts of child endangerment — and found out that there were seven more children out selling candy in the cold. Precinct officers located all seven children in and around Valley Stream.
The group of 11 was reunited at the police station at 10:15 Saturday night. Huston was charged with seven more counts of child endangerment for allowing the group to walk the streets of Franklin Square, Elmont and Valley Stream unsupervised, and with one count of resisting arrest. He was arraigned on Sunday.
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