SPRING, TEXAS — UPDATE 4:58 p.m. EDT Oct. 18: The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said that during an investigation of a woman who left a a 2-year-old boy in front of a stranger's house the found out she was a family friend.
"On the morning of October 18, 2018, the father was leaving his residence when he was approached by our media partners asking if he knew anything about the child," authorities said in an update Thursday. "At that time, the father was shown the video and immediately identified the child as his son."
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KTRK reported that the father told authorities that the mother of the child, who was in the hospital, texted the boy's father to let him know a friend was going to drop off the boy at his home Wednesday afternoon. The father said he assumed plans changed when his son didn't arrive and had left his house.
“The suspect in the video dropped the child off after the father had left his residence and at the wrong residence,” the Sheriff’s Office said. “The female in the video then left location without verifying anyone was home or who she was releasing the child to.”
The woman is being charged with felony child abandonment. Authorities are not releasing her name, KTRK reported.
Original report:
Police in Texas are investigating after a woman left a 2-year-old boy in front of a stranger’s house.
KTVT reported that deputies with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office responded to a home in Spring, Texas, when a 911 caller said she heard a knock at her door. When she answered it, she found the child but no adult.
"When deputies arrived they viewed video surveillance and observed a black female arrive at the residence in a white passenger car," Lt. Scott Spencer, with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, said in a Thursday morning news release. "The suspect is observed running toward the front door of the residence while lifting the child in the air by one arm. Once the suspect arrives at the front door she rings the door bell, knocks on the door and then flees back to her vehicle abandoning the 2 year child and two bags she was carrying. The entire incident lasted 23 seconds."
“The child is uninjured and appears to be in good health,” Spencer said, adding that Child Protective Services took custody of the boy.
In an update later Thursday morning, the Sheriff's Office said the father of the child had been found. The identities of the woman and child have not been released.
"With the help of our local media and our community, the father of the abandoned child has been located."
KTRK reported the identity of the child and said that the boy's father lives next door to the house where the child was abandoned.
Cox Media Group
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