Should parents and legal guardians be arrested for their child’s illegal activity? Depending on the circumstances, there is precedence.

But how about grandma or great-grandma? That’s what happened this month in Wayne County. This Tuesday evening, two grandparents are scheduled to go to court there.

“They’re wandering the streets, they’re unsupervised from morning until night," said Palmyra Police Chief Kyle Dinardo of two juveniles he says have racked up a list of criminal activity there. "They’re not in school for whatever reason."

Dinardo says the crimes started with violations, went to misdemeanors, and now have reached felony status. He says his department has been interacting with the 13 and 14-year-olds for the past year and much more so recently.

"They’ve been arrested," Dinardo said. "I think in total they have six to eight charges that are pending right now, including probably 30 complaints that they’re involved in."

The complaints and charges include criminal mischief, trespassing, burglary, defacing property, graffiti and more.

“They’re doing stuff that’s not only dangerous to the community, but dangerous to themselves," Dinardo said. "They’re on top of buildings. They’re shouting obscenities. They’re climbing up bridges over water 30 to 40 feet high. They’re entering properties — private property."

He says his department has been in communication many times with the legal guardians for the children, who are not related.

'“Both legal guardians have been warned when they’re not keeping track of their children and they’re not accepting the services that we’re offering," Dinardo said.

So now the legal guardians of each child, a grandmother and a great-grandmother, are under arrest.

Janet Heaven and Wanda Milner are each charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

“So, it’s not really the actions of the grandparents, it’s the lack of action by the grandparents,” said the chief.

“You’re opening up Pandora’s box if you’re going to start charging parents criminally for their kids’ behavior,” said Defense Attorney and former County Supreme Court Justice John DeMarco.

DeMarco says these types of cases are usually handled in family court.

“I absolutely think it’s the wrong road to go down," DeMarco said. "And I think the courts simply aren’t going to be able to handle the volume. And I think the prosecution -- in a vacuum -- it’s going to be extremely difficult to prove that these parents had knowledge or should have had knowledge that these children engaged in those specific acts."

But Dinardo says this might be the step that has to be taken.

“Being the chief of police is hard," he said. "I have to look out for the entire community as a whole. Yeah, I feel bad. I mean don’t want to arrest grandparents. But the community wants something to be done.”