FARMINGTON — There will be no criminal charges brought against a local day care provider who had two 3-year-old children go missing from her home for about two hours on Monday, Assistant District Attorney Claire Andrews said Thursday.

Owner Anita Sweetser did everything she could to find the children. She immediately started looking for the children when she saw them missing, she enlisted help from others to look for them and ultimately called police, Andrews said.

“We don’t feel we could meet (the state’s) burden of proof for criminal negligence,” she said. “We don’t see this as criminal conduct.”

Sweetser received approval from the Department of Health and Human Services for a provisional license Oct. 8. The license runs from Sept. 29, 2015, to Sept. 29, 2016. It appears that is the first renewal of the license, according to the state’s licensing information.

The children, a girl and a boy, were found in good condition about half a mile from the day care center at 107 Meadow Brook Heights. A neighbor saw the children at her residence and called police about an hour into the police’s search, police said.

Several local and state agencies responded to search for the children.

It was unknown Thursday if the DHHS had concluded its investigation into the incident.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

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