A West Deer woman is accused of repeatedly allowing a young boy to spend time with a convicted sex offender, according to police.
West Deer police charged Amy Lynn Lambert, 46, with one count of felony endangering the welfare of children. At the time, she was already detained in the Westmoreland County Prison on unrelated felony theft charges.
Police began investigating Lambert on Nov. 18 after a resource officer at a primary school asked the principal about the boy’s well-being, according to a criminal complaint.
The principal told police she was concerned about the boy’s chaotic home life and that the boy informed her he had been spending time with a man he called “Pappy Joe.”
The principal told police it was “her understanding that (the man) may be a registered sex offender,” the complaint said.
The principal identified the man as Joseph Wetzel and said the boy spent a considerable amount of time at his home prior to Nov. 8, when a paraprofessional from the school was given temporary custody of the child, police said.
Police said a background check revealed Wetzel is required to register with the state’s Megan’s Law sex offender registry for the remainder of his life.
Investigators said Wetzel was convicted of indecent assault in 2003. In 2011 he was convicted of transmitting material harmful to minors and use of a computer to seduce or solicit a minor.
Police said Lambert already was known to investigators because she was warned on Sept. 8 and again on Sept. 24 that it was unsafe to allow the boy to be around Wetzel.
The warnings were issued after police received a call from one of Wetzel’s neighbors, who reported that a child was being dropped off at his apartment on Bakerstown Culmerville Road “on a regular basis.”
The woman who was given temporary custody of the boy said, during the summer, she provided the boy with food and school supplies through the school’s backpack program.
At Lambert’s request, the items were dropped off at Wetzel’s home, the complaint states.
The woman told police she was inside Wetzel’s apartment and that it appeared he was “showering” the boy with gifts, including a $300 electric dirt bike and a cellphone so they could speak to one another.
Lambert faces a preliminary hearing before District Judge Tom Swan on Nov. 30. She does not have an attorney listed in court records.
