GROVETOWN, Ga. (WJBF) — A Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office deputy is facing charges after two young children were found wandering along a roadway by sanitation workers early Tuesday morning.

According to Grovetown Police Department, Phillip Oneal reportedly did not contact 911 nor the police department after discovering the children were missing, despite being a law enforcement officer.

The two children, ages 3 and 6, had left their home on the 600 block of Benelli Court at an unknown time after 6 a.m. and were located several blocks away on the 1000 block of Dodge Lane just before 9 a.m. The oldest child told investigators that they were going to the Elementary School to get breakfast and led officers back to their home.

The children were taken to Grovetown Police Department and DFACS was notified.

The children’s mother contacted investigators just before 10 a.m. and said she had been called at work by her husband, Oneal, who said he woke up to find the children missing. She said that Oneal told her that he searched the area and was unable to find the children.

After being told the children were found safe and were at the police department, the children’s mother arrived at Grovetown Police Department a short time later and met with investigators. DFACS placed the children in the custody of a relative.

Oneal was charged with two counts of reckless conduct and was transported to the Columbia County Detention Center.

Officials say this is not the first instance of this happening.

Back in November, officers responded to a home then-occupied by Oneal and his wife on the 4000 block of Sterlington Drive in reference to an unattended juvenile wandering around an apartment complex. In this case, a three-year-old in Oneal’s care let himself out of an unsecured door while Oneal had fallen asleep on the couch. DFACS was notified in this incident as well.