BOARDMAN, Ohio - Boardman police were dispatched to the Meadows Apartments on Boardman-Canfield Road Saturday in response to a report of unattended children. 

Police say when they arrived on scene around 4:30 p.m. they observed the apartment in a general state of disarray and saw moldy food on the stove top. 

The incident was reported to police by the suspect's landlord after she and a maintenance worker discovered the children after another tenant complained of a leak from the floor above. 

According to a police report, they discovered the leak was a result of the unattended children leaving the water running in the bathtub.

The oldest child told police they had been left alone since they woke up around 9:00 a.m. and their mother, Danielle Mahone, had either gone to work or their grandmother's house. 

The child also told police that he was left in charge of the other two children, who both have special needs and that this was not the first time their mother had left them alone to go to work.

Police were able to contact Mahone at her place of work and told her she needed to return to her apartment. 

Mahone told police that she hadn't left the children unattended, and there was supposed to be a babysitter at her apartment. 

She was unable to provide any information on the alleged babysitter and changed her story several times.

Mahone was then placed under arrest and the children were transferred to the custody of their grandmother. 

Mahone is charged with endangering children and is scheduled to appear in court on December 27.