BEDFORD — A Bedford man faces a felony charge after allegedly leaving a young child unattended inside a residence while he left to pick up a family member from work.
Tyler Shelton, 27, was arrested by Bedford Police officers on Sunday morning, August 16th on a preliminary charge of neglect of a dependent.
According to a probable cause affidavit filed by Bedford Police Officer Derek Blackwell, dispatchers received a call at approximately 10:17 a.m. from a resident living in the 1700 block of 25th Street. The female caller reported finding a small child walking alone in the alley behind her home.
The caller told responding officers that she walked with the young child in an attempt to find his home. The toddler initially led her to 1707 25th Street, but no one answered when she knocked on the door. The caller then brought the child to her porch for safety and contacted police.
When Officer Blackwell arrived, the non-verbal juvenile was unable to state his name or address. While officers walked the neighborhood with the child to locate his parents, police dispatch received a call from Shelton reporting that he was at the 1707 25th Street residence and looking for his child.
Officers made contact with Shelton and a female at the residence. According to court documents, the female resident immediately voiced frustration with Shelton for leaving the young child home alone.
After being advised of his rights, Shelton admitted to police that he had left the child sleeping alone in the house for approximately 20 to 30 minutes while he drove to pick up the female resident from work. Shelton told officers he did not wake the child to bring him along because he would have cried and thrown a tantrum, acknowledging that he should not have left the toddler unattended.
Shelton was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Lawrence County Jail. Court records note that Shelton was out on bond for separate pending criminal charges at the time of his arrest.
The Indiana Department of Child Services was notified, and an investigation was opened.
All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. This article is based on the information provided in the probable cause affidavit and does not represent a final determination of guilt or innocence.
