Charge filed in 2-year-old’s drowning

PORT ROYAL - A Port Royal woman is charged with one count of endangering the welfare of children after a drowning incident in June, Pennsylvania State Police Lewistown report.

According to court documents, a police investigation revealed that Tina Marie Beaston, 20, of 1120 Mountain Rd., Port Royal, had sole responsibility for the care of 2-year-old Alina Marie Hershey, who drowned in a pond on June 1 at Beaston's residence.

Court documents indicate Beaston also was caring for five other children that day and claims to have been inside her home with the youngest child while the other children, including Hershey, were playing outside on a trampoline. Beaston said she would occasionally check on the other children while she was inside preparing lunch, according to court documents.

Beaston said when she had finished preparing lunch she told the children to come inside, at which point she noticed Hershey was not with the other children, court documents indicate. Beaston, who estimates Hershey was missing for 10 to 15 minutes, then asked her mother's boyfriend, Brian Barrett, who was just arriving at the residence, to look for Hershey, according to court documents. Barrett found Hershey unresponsive in the pond, the documents indicate.

Court documents indicate Barrett pulled Hershey from the pond and began to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation as Beaston called 911. Hershey was transported to Lewistown Hospital by Port Royal EMS and was subsequently transferred to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville for further treatment, according to court documents.

Hershey never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead on June 3 at the hospital, court documents indicate.

A preliminary hearing for Beaston is set for 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 13 at the Juniata County Courthouse.