Hunter
12/16/24
A second person has been charged with Child Endangerment for their alleged role in an incident that occurred in North Liberty on Black Friday.
Police were called to the area of Westwood Drive and Sugar Creek Lane at around 1:15pm for a report of a 5-6 year old child running around unsupervised without a coat, when the temperature was in the low twenties and wind chills were in the upper single digits. Upon arrival, officers found an autistic, non-verbal five year old boy wearing a short sleeve shirt, with no stocking cap or gloves.
At approximately 2pm, 32-year-old Andre Smith arrived at his Sugar Creek Lane apartment and reported his child as missing. Police told Smith that the boy was found outside. Smith reportedly explained that he left the apartment with the boy and another 4-year-old child asleep so that he could take their mother to work at Best Buy at Coral Ridge Mall. Smith told police he didn’t want to wake the children to take them with him.
Smith had already been charged with Child Endangerment; the children’s mother, 37-year-old Shalaya Bates, was served with a warrant and faces the same charge.
If convicted, both Bates and Smith could be sentenced to up to two years in jail.