Toddler Found In Apartment Dumpster
Clay County Deputies, DCF Investigate How 2-Year-Old Got Inside Trash Bin
POSTED: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
UPDATED: 9:38 pm EDT June 30,
2009
ORANGE PARK, Fla. -- Clay County detectives and state child welfare officials are investigating after a 2-year-old boy was found in an apartment complex Dumpster on Saturday afternoon.
Deputies were called to the Cedar Bend Apartments in Orange Park after a maintenance man throwing out some trash found the boy wearing only a diaper and crying for his father.
"I heard something in the Dumpster and peered over it," said the maintenance man who did not want his name used. "This is where the kid was; right her."
The man, a father himself, pulled the boy out of the hot trash bin, changed his soiled diaper and gave him something to eat and drink while waiting for authorities to arrive.
"It was real hot," he told Channel 4's Vickie Pierre. "It was a good 100 degrees out."
Detectives said that the boy had wandered from his home in the complex and his parents were looking for the boy when he was found.
"The child was in good condition, was not injured in any way," Clay County Sheriff's Office Lt. Joe Bucci said.
The maintenance man told Channel 4's Vickie Pierre that the boy's dad showed up about 30 minutes later and said the child must have crawled into the Dumpster, which is over 3 feet tall.
The child was released to the custody of his parents.
While saying there was no indication of any criminal activity, detectives and the Florida Department of Children and Families were investigating how the boy got into the Dumpster.
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