A 12-year-old Texas boy came home from school to find his mother and her partner had moved house, prompting authorities to charge the adults, according to official records.
Police responded to reports of an abandoned child at an apartment complex in Copperas Cove last Friday, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by news outlets KWTX and KWKT.
The boy told police his mother, Erica Renee Sanders, and her partner, Keven Dwayne Adams, moved out of the home while he was at school, leaving the place empty.
When police called Adams on the phone, he said Sanders had moved into his home, where her son was not welcome, but insisted she did not abandon the boy.
A neighbor told police the couple had kicked Sanders’ son out before, and police said when they spoke to Adams, he “complained at length” about the boy.
Adams and Sanders told police Sander’s brother was supposed to pick up her son after school, but authorities say Sanders couldn’t give a time that her brother was supposed to arrive at the home to pick him up.
When police contacted the boy’s uncle he said he had no idea about the plan.
More than five hours had passed from the time the boy got home to when he, the couple and authorities connected, the affidavit said.
Child Protective Services, which was contacted by police about the case, told authorities the couple refused to tell them where they were staying.
Adams also told police he would not let the boy inside his home if they had an arrest warrant for Sanders.
The couple was arrested and charged with abandoning and endangering a child without intent to return. The boy is staying with his uncle, according to the affidavit.
It is unclear whether Adams or Sanders has an attorney.
