Middletown police posted a photo on social media of the boy found outside about 5:30 a.m. in the 800 block of 17th Avenue asking if anyone recognized the child. At about 8:15 a.m. the post was updated saying a parent had been found.
A doorbell camera captured the child on a porch and 911 was called. Officers found the child, who was nonverbal, outside in 50-degree weather, according to the report. They had no luck trying to find a parent in the neighborhood.
A Head Start employee recognized the child from the social media post and gave dispatchers information on the mother. Dispatchers attempted to contact Pendergraft multiple times.
“(Pendergraft) called back at 7:04 a.m. and advised she was not aware that her child was missing,” according to court documents.
When Pendergraft got to the police station she said her son is autistic/non-verbal “and she was aware he was missing but did not want to call police due to a prior child neglect report,” according to court records.
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