A 12-year-old Texas boy came home from school to find his mother and her boyfriend had packed up their apartment and moved out without him.
Police responded to reports of an abandoned child at an apartment complex in Copperas Cove on Oct. 17, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KWTX-TV in Waco.
The child told police that when he got home from school, the apartment was empty and “his family packed up and moved and left him there,” according to the affidavit. Officers described the home as “completely barren.”
Police said a neighbor told officers that the couple had kicked the 12-year-old out of the house in the past and the boy said the couple had mentioned to him “they were moving at some point.”
When officers contacted Erica Renee Sanders and her boyfriend, Keven Dwyane Adams, by phone, Adams told police Sanders moved in with him, but her son “was not welcome in his home,” according to the affidavit. Adams insisted Sanders did not abandon her son. The complaint stated a “history of contention” between the couple and the child.
Sanders told police that her brother was supposed to pick up the boy after school, but refused to give officers his contact information to verify her claim. After “several hours” police eventually got hold of the boy’s uncle, and he told officers that he was unaware of the arrangement to pick up his nephew, the complaint said.
Child protective services also contacted Adams and Sanders to obtain a current address. They reportedly refused to provide one. Investigators searched water utility records to find the residence.
Adams allegedly told the officers he would not let the boy inside his home if the officers had an arrest warrant for Sanders.
Sanders and Adams were both arrested and charged with abandoning or endangering a child without intent to return. The boy was staying with his uncle, the affidavit said.