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Police: Man abandoned fundraising children; promised Super Bowl trip

Colonial Regional police have charged a Wisconsin man with dropping off a group of unsupervised children who were in the area to collect donations, according to court records.

Rafael A. Andrews, 39, is charged with endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment. He is in Northampton County Prison under $150,000 bail.A group of children, ages 9 to 17, were dropped off Saturday in the neighborhoods of Hanover Township to collect donations for a Christian mentoring program, police said. The children were promised by Andrews that on Sunday, they'd be taken to a Super Bowl party in East Rutherford, N.J.According to court records:On Saturday, Bethlehem police were called to the Westgate Mall where they found several children "abandoned."The children told police they were from the Pottsville area and were supposed to be in Andrews' care.Andrews told the children's parents that he is the owner and operator of a Christian mentoring program that offers workshops, team building and community outreach events.Police said Andrews and the children stayed at an area hotel and during the day, he would leave them unsupervised for hours while they went door-to-door to solicit for donations for his group."The children reported that they were cold and not fed for the entire day," a police report states.Police said five children were abandoned at the mall and police found five others unsupervised in Hanover Township.Distributed by MCT Information Services.