Lebanon man gets probation in 2nd endanger case

Jeremiah Hollenbeck

LAWRENCE, Mass. - The Lebanon man who allegedly traveled to Lawrence, Mass., last month to buy heroin while his two 2-year-old twins sat in the back seat of his car had his drug and child endangerment cases continued without a finding on Friday in Lawrence District Court.

Jeremiah Hollenbeck, 30, of 678 River Road, was arrested June 12 and charged with possession of heroin, child endangerment and failure to stop for pedestrians in a city crosswalk.

Nearly two years ago he was arrested for leaving the same twins - then nine months old - along with two other young children in a sweltering hot car in Franklin, N.H., while he shoplifted from a nearby Family Dollar.

The Friday continuances mean Hollenbeck will be on probation for one year for the two charges out of Lawrence.

He must also comply with all Division of Children, Youth and Families orders, pay a $65 a month probation fee, as well as a victim witness fee and a drug analysis fee.

He must also enter a 30-day residential drug program and submit to random drug tests.

Lawrence Police say on June 9 Hollenbeck had the twins buckled up in car seats in the back seat when he made the heroin buy from a Lawrence woman moments before he was stopped for the crosswalk violation. He was found with 10 grams of heroin in his possession, police said.

Hollenbeck pleaded guilty two years ago to child endangerment charges in the hot car incident and was ordered to take drug and parenting classes as well as be on good behavior for two years or face a year in the Merrimack (NH) County Jail.

In the Franklin incident, police were alerted by a 911 call from a concerned passer-by who saw children in a hot car. Around 4 p.m. police arrived at the Family Dollar parking lot as the temperature soared to 97 degrees. There they found the twins in Hollenbeck's vehicle along with two other children, then 5 and 9. Police estimated they had been in the hot car, a Subaru, for 10 to 15 minutes.

Shortly after police arrived Hollenbeck approached the car and was asked to open the doors which revealed all four children were in heat-related distress, police said.

All four were treated by Franklin Rescue and later released. Hollenbeck was charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, one count of receiving stolen property, and a felony level possession of a controlled narcotic.