Hunter
11/03/24
A North Liberty man was arrested Friday afternoon after he reportedly left his two sleeping children to take their mother to work, and one was found wandering outside without a coat on.
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, and he told them 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.
The children were unharmed; Smith was charged with Child Endangerment and could face up to two years in jail if convicted.