{"id":12563,"date":"2025-10-20T17:54:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/12563\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T17:54:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T17:54:12","slug":"texas-couple-arrested-for-leaving-infant-on-florida-beach-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/12563\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas couple arrested for leaving infant on Florida beach \u2013 NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two parents from Houston<\/a>, Texas, are facing child abuse charges<\/a> after leaving a 6-month-old baby unattended on a Florida beach<\/a> for nearly an hour.<\/p>\n

The Walton County Sheriff’s Office<\/a> said deputies responded to a report of an unattended infant at Miramar Beach in Walton County, Florida, around noon on Friday, Oct. 10.<\/p>\n

Fellow beachgoers told police the child had been left alone for nearly an hour while the parents went for a walk on the beach with their three other children.<\/p>\n

The baby was being cared for by Good Samaritans who then called police.<\/p>\n

While deputies were waiting for the South Walton Fire District<\/a> personnel to arrive and asses the infant, the parents returned.<\/p>\n

Both parents admitted to putting the infant under the tent for a nap before leaving with their other children, authorities said. <\/p>\n

The parents left without a cell phone and claimed they lost track of time, WCSO said.<\/p>\n

Security footage obtained during the investigation confirmed the family was away for nearly an hour.<\/p>\n

The infants vitals were normal and the child was not in distress, SWFD determined.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thankful for the quick-thinking beachgoer who raised the alarm and for those who stepped in to care for the child with the same kindness and concern they would show their own,\u201d said Sheriff Michael Adkinson<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Children and Families<\/a> was notified and took custody of the children until family members from Texas arrived.<\/p>\n

Brian Wilks, 40, and Sara Wilks, 37, were arrested and charged with child neglect without great bodily harm. They were each held on a $1,000 bond, and bonded out the following day.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPediatrician Dr. Rachel Moon breaks down the safest ways to put your baby to sleep and explains why it matters, as cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) continue to rise.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two parents from Houston, Texas, are facing child abuse charges after leaving a 6-month-old baby unattended on a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10548,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-12563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-parenting","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}