HAZLETON, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Police are charging a mother after they say her child was locked out of the house while she was passed out from illegal drugs.
According to the Hazleton City Police Department, on August 25 around 3:00 a.m., officers were called to West Elm Street and Poplar Street for a report of a child locked out of their home.
Once on the scene, officers learned the 7-year-old child was sleeping in their mother's car and was ready to go inside but the house was locked. Officers knocked multiple times on the front door but received no response.
Police said they learned from neighbors that the victim's mother was known to have a drug problem and could be in distress.
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Investigators stated they got into the house through a window and the mother was found upstairs, passed out in the bed, and visibly under the influence of a controlled substance.
The mother was identified as Yuliya Hettler, also known as Yuliya Maksimova, and she was arrested. She faces the charges of welfare of a child, and recklessly endangering another person.
Hettler was previously charged with similar offenses in 2017 when she was found unresponsive in her car due to using heroin and the victim, who was an infant at the time, was found in the backseat, according to court records.
