Carson City man arrested after deputies find runaway child in abandoned motorhome
Submitted by admin on Fri, 09/15/2023 - 9:39am
A 45-year-old Carson City man was arrested in the area of Woodside Drive for child neglect, a gross misdemeanor, after deputies found his 16-year-old mentally ill son sleeping in an abandoned trailer.
According to the arrest report, deputies responded to a property on Fairview Dr. just before 7:30 a.m. one report of an unwanted subject. The property owner had located a 16-year-old boy sleeping in an abandoned motorhome on the property.
Deputies spoke with the boy who said he’d run away from home on Sept. 5 due to issues with his adopted father.
Dispatch advised no one had reported the boy as a runaway.
While speaking with the boy, deputies noted that he appeared to have mental health issues, and that his face was pale and without color in his lips or cheeks.
The boy advised he has Asperger’s Syndrome as well as Oppositional Defiant Disorder. Deputies asked if he is taking medication for his conditions, and he said he hasn’t taken any medication since November 2022.
The boy told deputies he told his adopted father on Sept. 6 that he was going to a ten-year-old friend’s house down the street; he told deputies he’s slept in the shed behind the house of his friend in the past, but since he left on Sept. 6, he has mostly been sleeping at John Mankins Park.
He told deputies that due to the cold temperatures the night before, he found the abandoned motor home to sleep in. He told deputies the only food he has eaten has been from school lunch.
Deputies were able to reach the adopted father by phone, who immediately told deputies that the boy is mentally ill and confirmed he has been gone from home since Sept. 5.
At first, he claimed he has been in contact with the boy everyday, but that later changed, according to deputies.
He said he had already been contacted by the property owner when he found the boy in the motor home, and had assumed the boy would be arrested.
Deputies asked if he was able to come pick the boy up, and he “seemed hesitant at first,” according to the report, and repeated that the boy should be arrested and placed on formal probation.
However, he finally agreed to leave work and meet deputies at the location. He confirmed he had adopted the boy when he was two-years-old due to the mother being drug addicted.
Deputies asked him how long it had been since he spoke to the boy, where he thought he was and who he thought was taking care of him.
The man changed his story, and said he’d not spoken directly to the boy since Sept. 6, but that he’d checked with the school counselor to ensure he was going to school. He said he thought he was staying at the ten-year-old friend’s house, but admitted that he did not know the address, who the parents were, or how to contact them.
Deputies asked if the boy was supposed to be taking medication. The man blamed the boy for not going to the doctor or taking his medication, but deputies determined the boy had no current prescriptions or medications. Deputies asked if he was taking him to appointments to ensure he was properly medicated, and the man again blamed the boy, stating he has “many issues” and wouldn’t go.
Deputies explained to the man it was his responsibility to care for the boy, and noted “it was clear this was not happening, and the blame was being put on a sixteen-year-old who clearly has mental issues.”
The man eventually agreed he was in the wrong, deputies said, and deputies further explained the danger the boy was exposed to while living on the street, not eating and not having his mental illness treated.
Deputies placed the man in custody for child neglect and made arrangements for an SRO to take the boy to school so he could be fed. Deputies also made contact with a case worker from DCFS, who said they were familiar with the the man and the boy.
Bail: $2,500
All information for the crime log (unless otherwise noted) comes from the arrest reports supplied by the Carson City Sheriff's Office, and is considered by law to be public information. All subjects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The policy of Carson Now is to name anyone who is arrested for a felony offense.
