Police serving immigration warrant in New Jersey find 3 kids home alone

HACKETTSTOWN, New Jersey -- Authorities say police officers serving an immigration warrant at a New Jersey apartment found three young children who had been left home alone in "unclean" conditions.

Hackettstown officers went to the residence on Main Street around 8 a.m. Wednesday and knocked on the door.

They say a 6-year-old girl answered, and officers soon determined she and her sisters - a 3-year-old and a 9-month old - were by themselves.

"Officers observed the apartment to be disheveled and unclean," police said.

Law enforcement agents outside the building soon saw the girls' parents approach, but the couple allegedly ran off down an alley way when they spotted the officers.

They were caught, though. The parents, Luis Ortega-Calle and Josselyn Eneida DeLeon-Garcia, are each charged with three counts of child neglect.

Authorities say the parents told them they left the children alone while they went to work overnight. The girls were turned over to child welfare officials.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)