CLEARLAKE – A Clearlake man has been arrested for child endangerment following an incident late last week in which he allegedly left his children unattended in a potentially dangerous situation.

Lt. Mike Hermann reported that Clearlake Police officers were dispatched to the Lakeview Terrace Apartments at approximately 10:24 p.m. Jan. 29 after a caller reported hearing his neighbor’s children screaming and crying for the past hour.

When deputies arrived at the apartments, the neighbor advised that he had become concerned for the well-being of the children after he was unable to get an answer at the door, Hermann said.

Officers got to the residence and were able to hear children screaming inside the location but found that the front door had been chained and blocked with an item later determined to be a reclining chair. Hermann said officers made numerous attempts to get someone to come to the door but received no response.

Due to the circumstances, officers made the decision to force entry into the location, Hermann said.

While this was being done, a male subject – identified as 26-year-old Kevin Ray Stone 26 of Clearlake – emerged from the rear bedroom at the location, said Hermann.

During the contact, Stone was determined to be under the influence of marijuana. Hermann said officers also determined that Stone's two children, a 4-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl, had been left unsupervised while Stone “dozed off” in the rear bedroom.

While searching the apartment, officers found the bathroom door open with a bathtub filled with water and children's toys. Hermann said the floor also was wet, indicating that the children had been playing in and around the water.

Hermann said Stone was arrested on two counts of felony child endangerment, misdemeanor possession of an illegal weapon (a butterfly knife in his pocket) and possession of drug paraphernalia, in this case a glass smoking pipe commonly used for methamphetamine which also was located in the residence.

Stone was later booked into the Lake County Jail on the charges, Hermann said. The children were placed into protective custody by Child Protective Services pending their investigation.

He remained in the Lake County Jail early Tuesday.

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