An Orlando father was arrested last week on a child abuse charge after his autistic child was found alone and naked on an Interstate-4 ramp while the dad was out delivering food, court records show.
The father, 36-year-old Jeremy Jaron Rouse, told police he didn’t immediately search for the child he knew was missing because he didn’t want to hurt his Uber Eats rating, according to his arrest report.
Altamonte Springs police responded around 11 p.m. on Oct. 16 to an I-4 on-ramp near State Road 436 after receiving reports of an unattended child. An officer saw the child running naked down the on-ramp. A passerby ran after and grabbed the child, who was then placed in the back of the officer’s patrol car, the report said.
The police department did not provide the age or gender of the child, but the father’s arrest report, which is heavily redacted, indicates the mother referred to the child being missing from “his seat” in the car.
When officers attempted to speak to the child, they realized the youngster was nonverbal and likely autistic.
Soon after that, the department received a call about a missing child, which matched the description of the youngster in the officer’s car. Police later met the mother at a nearby Walgreens and returned the child to her, the report shows.
The mother told police she and Rouse were delivering food for Uber Eats with their child in the car when she fell asleep in the passenger seat around 9:30 p.m. When she woke up around 11:30 p.m., she realized the child was missing from the car and asked Rouse where the child was, the report said. Rouse told her he thought the child had been sleeping while he was making deliveries.
The mother told police that after she confirmed with a police dispatcher that the child in police custody was hers, Rouse refused to drive to the Walgreens because he was afraid he’d be blamed, according to report.
The mother later drove to Walgreens alone. Officers spent nearly an hour with the child before she showed up, according to the report. It is not clear from the police report where the child exited his parents’ car or why the youngster was not wearing any clothes.
The report notes the mother provided a statement but then later recanted what she’d said.
Officers spoke to Rouse at a Wawa around 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 17 after he requested to speak with them. He said he had continued driving after realizing the child was missing because he wanted to complete his delivery so he didn’t negatively affect his Uber Eats rating, the report said.
Rouse said did not go with the mother to retrieve the child because he feared being arrested. He told police if he were to be arrested, he preferred “to do it later,” according to the report.
He was arrested on a charge of child abuse without great bodily harm. He has pleaded not guilty and has been released on bond, court records show.
The report says police recommended to prosecutors that the mother also be given the same charge in addition to a charge of perjury.
Originally Published: October 24, 2025 at 4:03 PM EDT