An officer found the children - a 6-month-old boy, a 5-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy - around 6:20 p.m. Sunday after police received a report of young children crying in an unattended vehicle in the Gateway Plaza parking lot in Patchogue.
Police say the children had been left in the car for about an hour while their parents shopped at a store.
The parents, 33-year-old Donald Hayes and 34-year-old Sarah Hayes of Patchogue, have been charged with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child. They're scheduled to be arraigned in First District Court in Central Islip on Monday.
