The father of a 3-year-old child who wandered away from home Saturday faces a neglect charge, police report.
Raymond Davis III, 49, of Crothersville was arrested on the Level 6 felony charge after officers found him asleep when they returned the boy to his home, county reserve Officer Scott Davis said in his report.
The incident that led to Raymond Davis’ arrest began when police responded to a report of a child who had wandered away from his home in the 6000 block of South County Road 1025E, Crothersville, police said.
The child was only wearing a T-shirt when he was found about three houses or about a tenth of a mile away from his own home, police said.
Crothersville Officer Brent Turner took the child back to the home, but police could not get anyone to answer the door.
While police tried to find someone who might be watching the child, the boy ran inside the residence, police said.
Another attempt to get someone to answer the door failed, so officers entered the house and found the first floor cluttered with trash, dirty clothing and used eating utensils and beverage containers, police said.
Similar conditions were found throughout the house while officers looked for the child and the person who might have been watching the boy before he wandered away.
Officers eventually found the boy in a bedroom with his 11-year-old brother.
The older brother told police that both of them were home alone and that he did not know that his little brother had wandered away from the house, police said.
The oldest child said he could not call any of the adults who lived there because he did not have a phone anywhere in the residence.
As officers continued to check the residence, they said they found Raymond Davis asleep on the third floor, and he had to be awakened by the police to talk to them about the boy wandering away.
The oldest child stated that he did not know any adults were in the house at all.
Davis told police he did not know he had been left to watch his sons after the grandparents had left the residence, and he was unaware that the younger boy had wandered off and had been gone from the residence for approximately an hour.
Davis was booked into the Jackson County Jail in Browns- town at 11:24 a.m. Saturday and being held without bond pending an initial hearing.