A Florida man was placed behind bars after police found his 4-year-old autistic child naked and wandering an interstate while he was making Uber Eats deliveries.
Jeremy Jason Rouse, 36, was arrested and charged with child abuse without great bodily harm.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, citing an arrest report, Altamonte Springs Police were called to I-4 near State Road 436 around 11 p.m. on Oct. 16 after a 911 caller notified them about an unattended child.
A responding officer saw the child running down an onramp to the interstate, and a passerby quickly grabbed the child.
The child was placed in the back of a police cruiser. Officers tried talking to the child, but realized the youngster was nonverbal and likely autistic. The arrest report doesn’t include the child’s age or gender.
Shortly after finding the 4-year-old, the police got a call about a missing child, which matched the description of the child officers located.
Police met the child’s mother at a nearby Walgreens and returned the child to her.
The mother told police that she and Rouse were making deliveries for Uber Eats around 9:30 p.m. that night with their child in the car.
The mother fell asleep in the passenger seat, and when she woke up at 11:30 p.m., she saw that the child was gone and that Rouse was still making deliveries.
When she questioned Rouse about the child’s whereabouts, Rouse told her that he thought the child was sleeping soundly in the back seat, according to the report.
After the mother called 911 to report her child missing, a police dispatcher confirmed that the child in police custody was hers.
Rouse didn’t join her at Walgreens to retrieve the child because he thought he would be blamed, the report states.
The mother later drove to Walgreens alone. Police didn’t clarify where or how the child exited the car or why he wasn’t wearing any clothes. The mother did give an explanation, but later recanted the statement.
Rouse later met with officers at 3:30 a.m. at a Wawa after requesting to speak with them.
He said he realized the child was missing while he was working, but continued driving because he wanted to complete one of his deliveries so it didn’t negatively impact his Uber Eats rating, according to the report.
Rouse added that he didn’t join the mother at Walgreens for fear of being arrested. He said that if he were to be arrested, he preferred “to do it later,” the report states.
He pleaded not guilty to the child abuse charge and is currently out on bond.
Police also recommended prosecutors charge the mother with child abuse as well as an additional charge of perjury.
