OAK HILL, Fla. (WSVN) — Deputies have arrested a Florida couple after a toddler was found wandering down the side of the road in nothing but a dirty diaper and covered in bug bites.
According to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, a passerby and a mail carrier saw the child wandering down the street unsupervised and intervened before he could be hit by a car, Monday afternoon.
One of the deputies who responded to the scene recognized the child and went to his home in search of his caretakers, identified as 28-year-old Yajaira Tirado and 25-year-old Jacob Krueger.
Officials said the deputy knew where to find them from a previous case in January 2018 where Tirado was charged with child neglect after deputies found two children alone inside a house with a vicious aggressive dog, along with an unsecured shotgun and ammunition.
In Monday’s incident, investigators said they found the couple passed out in their mobile home, “each apparently under the influence of drugs, frothing at the mouth and initially not responding to the sound of his voice.”
Detectives said it wasn’t until the deputy yelled and struck the wall loudly that the couple woke up, got dressed and came outside.
While conducting their investigation, detectives said they kept the child in the back seat of the patrol car because there were broken beer bottles on the ground and several knives within the toddler’s reach.
Deputies also said the home itself was messy and in poor condition.
When asked about breakfast, deputies said Tirado responded that the toddler usually “pulls like bread and stuff out by himself.”
The boy was taken into custody of the Department of Children and Families while Tirado and Krueger were charged with child neglect.
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.