Police arrested two Florida men who allegedly gave up searching for a missing 5-year-old boy in their care. Officers later found the child wandering toward a busy street, moments before a car drove by.
Authorities identified the suspects as Craig Darnell Presley, 52, and Chadrick Rodell Smith Jr., 27. Both face one count of child neglect without great bodily harm, court records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers responded to a Sept. 7 call near an apartment complex and spotted the unaccompanied boy heading for traffic. Local teens who didn’t know the child helped officers pull him back from the road.
The boy, who could state his name and age but not his address, was later recognized by a resident who directed police to his apartment. Inside, officers found five more children. The kids told police the 5-year-old often ran off and that Presley and Smith had searched briefly before giving up. One of the men even fell asleep afterward, they said.
When officers escorted the boy home, Presley appeared disheveled and held up his undone pants. He denied sleeping but looked as though he had just woken up. Smith later admitted that he and Presley were watching the children while the boy’s mother and grandmother went grocery shopping. Smith claimed he searched for the child but stopped when he couldn’t find him, returning home “unbothered,” officers wrote.
Neither man called authorities or notified the child’s relatives. When the mother and grandmother returned, they told police they had left the children with Presley and Smith for only about 30 minutes.
During transport to jail, Presley insisted he was only responsible for his own five children, not the missing boy.
Judge Susan Miller-Jones released Presley on his own recognizance after he agreed to pay overdue child support. Smith, who has two prior felony convictions, remains in custody on a $25,000 bond. Police have not clarified the men’s relationship to the 5-year-old.
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