Jennifer Edwards Baker

jbaker@enquirer.com

Police say two southeastern

Indiana parents were found unresponsive from overdosing on heroin with their two small children at Green Township McDonald's play yard.

Tamica Lynn Jeffers, 33, and Robert Paul Palmer, 37, of Dillsboro, Ind., are held at the Hamilton County Jail on child endangering charges.

Jeffers is held on $6,000 bond.

Palmer's bond was set at $10,000 when he made a brief appearance Thursday in Hamilton County Municipal Court.

He pleaded not guilty.

Judge Megan Shanahan ordered him to stay away from the children if he is released.

According to court records, Green Township police and fire crews found the couple Sunday at the indoor play yard at McDonald's, 5425 Northbend Road.

Jeffers was unconscious and not breathing. She was taken to Mercy West Hospital and treated.

Palmer was conscious but unresponsive.

Their two children, 5 and 8, were in their care.

Both parents admitted to authorities they had used heroin, which resulted in "life-threatening overdoses," police wrote in a sworn statement.

It was not immediately clear Thursday who was caring for the couple's children.

Social workers in Indiana are investigating, said Brian Gregg, spokesman for Hamilton County Job and Family Services.

The case goes to a grand jury for possible indictment March 24.