PALM COAST, Fla. (WSVN) — A good Samaritan found a 2-year-old boy wandering in a Florida neighborhood all alone, and now the child’s mother is facing charges after she was found fast asleep inside their home.
Body camera video captured deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office holding the toddler after Lenore Lofaro spotted him in the street in Palm Coast, Monday morning.
“I asked him where he lives, and he started pointing to different apartments, so I started knocking on some doors,” she said. “Nobody answered, so I sat with him for, like, 45 minutes thinking that someone would come and look for him. Clearly that did not happen.”
Lofaro then called 911.
Deputies showed up and eventually found the boy’s mother — asleep with her door open in her second-story unit at a condominium complex.
Investigators said the child’s mother tested positive for methadone and told deputies she had recently tested positive for THC and alcohol.
Deputies also found open alcohol containers among the trash littering the unit’s floor.
Lofaro, who is in the area on vacation, said it’s a sad situation.
“Absolutely, I feel bad for the child. I hope he’s safe at this point,” she said.
Authorities said the toddler was wearing dirty pajamas with a soiled diaper underneath, adding his mother didn’t check on him for more than eight hours.
When deputies asked if the boy had anything to eat, the mother pointed to an open box of cereal on the floor and said it was possible he’d eaten that.
“We hope that this can turn her life around, which in turn will make a better life for the child,” said Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly.
Staly said the good Samaritan found the toddler near a busy road, and this could have led to a real tragedy.
“He could have been hit by a car. Florida Park Drive is a very busy road; we get a lot of traffic complaints on that road,” he said.
The Florida Department of Children and Families took custody of the toddler. His mother is being charged with child neglect, a felony.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.