VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) — Hearings for two Franklin residents who had been allegedly locking two children inside a bedroom at night are set for Wednesday morning.

Court documents indicate 27-year-old Tony David Umstead and 22-year-old Merissa Kilgore are scheduled to stand for preliminary hearings in Venango County Central Court at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, January 11.

They each face the following charge:

– Endangering Welfare of Children — Parent/Guardian/Other Commits Offense, Felony 2

Both individuals are currently free after being released on their own recognizance.

The charges stem from an investigation initiated in late October.

Details of the case:

According to a criminal complaint, around 11:57 a.m. on Wednesday, October 28, Franklin Police were dispatched to a Childline report of two small children being locked inside a bedroom at an apartment on Arbor Circle. Police also requested that Children and Youth Services (CYS) be dispatched to the residence.

According to the complaint, when the children’s mother, identified as Merissa Kilgore, was questioned about the report, she led police and the CYS delegate upstairs to the children’s bedroom.

The complaint indicates police observed the children’s bedroom had a doorknob lock installed backward, so the door could be locked from the outside hallway of the residence.

Kilgore reportedly told police that locking the bedroom from the outside was intended to keep her five-year-old child from sleepwalking out of his bedroom. She stated that she and Tony Umstead had been locking the door overnight for the last month.

Kilgore explained that about a month prior, she and Umstead had agreed to have him change the doorknob in an attempt to keep the children in the room at night. The CYS representative then requested that they change the lock back to being accessible from the inside of the bedroom, and she reportedly complied, according to the complaint.

Umstead and Kilgore were arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Matthew T. Kirtland at 12:45 p.m. on Friday, October 29.