Share and Follow
CLEARWATER, Fla. (WFLA) — A man was arrested after a 4-year-old was found barefoot and unattended in an Arby’s drive-thru.
According to an affidavit, on Tuesday a concerned citizen was approached by the girl who told them she was hungry.
The citizen brought the girl inside the Arby’s where they bought her food and found her some shoes to wear.
The affidavit said deputies located the child’s father, Clyde Thompson, 31, who stated that he was unaware the girl was at Arby’s.
Thompson also relayed to deputies that he had fed the 4-year-old a doughnut for breakfast around 9 a.m.
- Travis Hunter is still not sure which position NFL teams want him to focus on
The child was discovered at 5:47 p.m.
According to the affidavit, Thompson said he thought the child was at a neighbor’s house but admitted to deputies that he never escorted the child to their house or checked up on her throughout the day.
Deputies said Thompson told them he didn’t have the neighbor’s contact information and thought his wife had arranged for them to watch the girl while she was at work.
Deputies spoke to the neighbor who told them that the child showed up at their house several times throughout the day but each time she escorted her back home.
The neighbor also told deputies that no arrangements had been made for her to watch the 4-year-old.
The affidavit said deputies spoke to the girl and her 8-year-old sibling who told them that their father sleeps all day and had never offered them food.
- 30 dogs removed from Weeki Wachee home, owner charged with animal cruelty: deputies
The 8-year-old told authorities that the neighbor made them mac and cheese around lunchtime before returning them to their home.
Pinellas County deputies arrested Thompson and charged him with neglect of a child.
