ROWAN COUNTY — Authorities were dispatched to a Highland Park Drive address on Sunday after a woman reported that she was not able to contact her children’s caretaker. When they arrived, they reportedly found the children covered in feces and the man tasked with caring for them asleep in the bed.

That man, Timothy Clayton Broadway, 22, now faces charges of child abuse.

According to Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reports, the children’s mother was attempting to contact Broadway. One of the children reportedly answered a phone call and told their mother that they were cold and scared.

The mother contacted law enforcement. When deputies arrived at the home in 100 block of Highland Park Drive, they heard a child crying inside the residence. Upon entry, deputies reportedly found two young children naked and covered in feces.

EMS personnel on the scene administered care for the children while a deputy searched the home. Reports indicate that the deputy found Broadway in a bedroom. Broadway did not react to the deputy announcing himself.

While deputies were there, the mother returned home and told them how she had tried to call, but the child answered the phone.

The Department of Social Services was contacted for the matter, and Broadway was charged with misdemeanor child abuse. He was given a $1,000 bond.