WINSLOW — A Waterville woman was cited by police during the wee hours of Wednesday morning after several people reported seeing two children, wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the roof of her moving van.

The driver, Shelly M. Waddell, 36, of Waterville, was summonsed on a charge of endangering the welfare of a child.

“A couple of different motorists called it in,” Police Chief Jeffrey Fenlason said. “They reported seeing two small children wrapped in a blanket, on the roof, and the vehicle was moving. It was in motion.”

Waddell, however, denied the reports when she was pulled over on Norton Street by Winslow police officer Brandon Lund just before 3:30 a.m.

In addition to her two children, also in the van was her friend Scott Fisher of Waterville, who is a newspaper carrier for the Morning Sentinel. Waddell was helping deliver papers for Fisher, who said he can’t drive because his license is suspended.

Fisher said the incident was a misunderstanding.

“The kids were horse-playing with boots and one boot ended up on top of the roof,” Fisher said. “We were parked in front of a house; we weren’t moving. One of them went on the roof to get the boot.”

The children — a 10-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy — were clearly described by motorists as being on the roof as the van was in motion on Cushman Road, Fenlason said. Therefore, Lund summonsed Waddell because “there were several credible witnesses who observed it,” he said.

The speed limit is 25 mph on that portion of Cushman Road, and Fenlason assumes the van “wasn’t going very fast.”

Endangering the welfare of a child is a Class D crime. The law applies when a parent “recklessly endangers the health, safety or welfare of a child under 16 years of age by violating a duty of care or protection.”

Waddell is scheduled to appear in Waterville District Court on March 22.

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