ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. (WFLA) — A Florida father was arrested after his child was found running without clothes along an Interstate 4 ramp, according to the Altamonte Springs Police Department.
According to an arrest report, Jeremy Rouse, 35, and a female passenger called police on Oct. 16 when they noticed the child was missing from their vehicle while delivering an Uber Eats order.
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Around the same time, police responded to a report of a naked child running down the Interstate 4 on-ramp. When police arrived, bystanders pulled the child from the road and as officers attempted to communicate with them, they noticed the child was nonverbal and appeared to be autistic.
The woman told police she fell asleep in the car while Rouse was delivering her order and when she woke up, her child was gone. She said the two walked back to the restaurant they had visited earlier that night.
According to the arrest report, the woman told officers that she was directed to meet with officers at a nearby Walgreens, but Rouse refused because she did not want to be held responsible for the incident. Officers reported waiting at the store for nearly an hour before the woman showed up alone.
A few hours later, officers met with Rouse at a Wawa. According to the arrest report, the man admitted that he continued the delivery route even after realizing the child was missing because he “didn’t want to negatively impact Uber Eats’ reputation.”
Rouse also told police he let the woman pick up the child alone because she was afraid of being arrested, according to the arrest report. Officers took him into custody and charged him with two counts of child abuse and making false statements to police.
