Local

Autistic boy, 9, girl, 2, found wandering Wilkinsburg streets

WILKINSBURG, Pa. — A Wilkinsburg woman has been jailed on child endangerment charges after police said her 9-year-old autistic son and a 2-year-old daughter were found wandering Monday night near a gas station.

Police said Pupoolah Billings, 37, told them her 18-year-old child was supposed to be watching the kids, but when police went to her home, they discovered the older child was only 11 and had also been left alone with a 6-year-old.

Police said a motorist called police about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday when the first two children were seen wandering along Penn Avenue near the Exxon gas station. Police said Billings gave them various stories about how the children were being cared for, but none was true.

"Who in the heck would leave their children, especially that time of night, knowing someone is not going to be there?" said Wilkinsburg police Chief Ophelia Coleman. "Nothing is that important that you leave young people, babies, at home to fend for themselves."

The clerk at the Exxon station said the children seemed fine.

Children and Youth Services took all of the children into protective custody and relocated them to another family member’s house.

Billings faces a preliminary hearing March 29 on four counts of endangering the welfare of children.

In the meantime, Channel 11 News learned that Billings was accused of assaulting her 17-year-old daughter in 2009.