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Charge of neglect after child left alone
A man allegedly leaves the toddler in his apartment while he ran an errand. The child is found in the street.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published August 27, 2005
CLEARWATER - A Clearwater man was arrested on a charge of child neglect Friday after a 3-year-old left in his care was found wandering in the street.
Pinellas County deputies said Morphy Salomon, 28, left the child alone in an apartment while he went to run an errand.
He was gone for more than 15 minutes, said sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jim Bordner.
"Apparently, the child did not want to go with him," Bordner said. "So he allowed him to stay at the apartment watching cartoons."
A school bus driver found the boy at about 12:55 p.m. at Union Street and New York Avenue - about a tenth of a mile from the apartment. She called authorities, Bordner said.
The boy was unable to tell deputies who he was or where he lived. So they started going door to door, hoping someone would recognize him.
"The patrol sergeant described him as a 3-year-old boy wandering the road with a runny nose," Bordner said.
Bordner declined to reveal the nature of the relationship between Salomon and the boy in order to protect the child's identity. He also declined to name the child's mother.
He said Salomon's errand was to check on the child's mother, who was working a double shift at a business more than 4 miles away.
When he returned home about 1:15 p.m., he noticed the child was missing.
"He started checking with some of the neighbors," Bordner said. "They pointed him in the direction of where the cruisers were. He got in his car and drove to the deputies who were going to door to door."
Salomon also had a 2-year-old with him in the car, whom authorities noticed was standing on the backseat. The two children have the same mother.
Deputies issued him a citation for a child restraint violation.
Salomon then admitted to leaving the 3-year-old alone and was arrested on a charge of child neglect.
He was taken to the Pinellas County jail, where he remained on $5,000 bail Friday. If convicted, he faces up to five years in jail.
Both children were uninjured. They were turned over to their mother.
Megan Scott can be reached at 445-4167 or mscott@sptimes.com
[Last modified August 27, 2005, 01:14:20]
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