A Center Grove area resident called police after finding a toddler alone, walking along a street in her neighborhood.
Just before 10:45 a.m. Thursday, the 2-year-old was walking barefoot in the Brookhaven neighborhood, near Olive Branch and Paddock roads, and the woman told police this isn’t the first time, according to a report from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
The woman waited about 15 minutes for someone to come looking for the toddler, which had happened the last time she saw the little girl walking alone, the report said.
This time, no one came, and she called police.
Deputies began looking for the child’s home, but because of the age of the little girl, she couldn’t tell them where she lived. They went to the area where the woman had seen the parent come from the last time she had found her. Deputies found a home with toys in the yard and began knocking on the front door and then the back door when no one answered, the report said.
A man who appeared to have been sleeping answered the door. Deputies also learned the child hadn’t eaten in about 15 hours, the report said. Deputies also warned the man that the child had been about a quarter-mile away and was near an overgrown and vacant property, where she could have easily been lost, the report said.
The Indiana Department of Child Services was called, and the toddler was sent home with a relative, the report said.
No one has been arrested. The report has been sent to the Johnson County prosecutor, who will decide what, if any, charges to file.
