JACKSONVILLE - The father of a 2-year-old girl left alone at home for nearly three weeks while her mother was in jail was granted temporary custody Wednesday.
Ogden Lee found his daughter, Breanna, in her mother's apartment, hungry, naked and covered with ketchup, mustard and jelly.
"My daughter is doing fine and she's in good health," Lee said outside a friend's home where he and Breanna are staying. "Thank God, this was the outcome."
The child, who survived by eating ketchup, mustard and dried pasta, was treated for malnutrition and dehydration at Wolfson Children's Hospital. She was released Tuesday and turned over to state welfare officials.
Ogden Lee, 33, a U.S. Navy petty officer separated from the child's mother, Dakeysha Telita Lee, 22, had a manager let him into the apartment Monday after trying for two weeks to contact the mother and not learning till Sunday night that she was in jail.
He found his daughter lying unclothed in a baby's bathtub, covered with a towel and watching a TV cartoon channel.
"I yelled her name out and she responded, "Daddy,"' Lee said, his voice breaking.
The girl's mother was arrested at her workplace Sept. 10 and jailed on charges of aggravated assault and petty theft. She was charged additionally Monday with child abuse because she did not tell anyone the toddler was alone.
The mother was held Wednesday in lieu of $170,006 bail.
