A Florida mom is facing serious charges after police say her 5-year-old child was found wandering alone in the street at night while she was shopping for a new phone at Target.
Maureen Elizabeth O’Neill, 37, was arrested on Thursday and charged with child neglect without great bodily harm, according to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies were called to a home on North Gulf Drive in Santa Rosa Beach on the night of October 16 after a neighbor contacted 911. He reported that an older couple had found a young boy “alone in the roadway” and brought him to the caller’s apartment. The man told dispatchers he recognized the child as O’Neill’s son.
The neighbor said he brought the boy home but found the door unlocked and O’Neill nowhere to be found. He texted her at 6:41 p.m. to let her know her son had been found trying to cross the street, asking her to call him right away.
Her alleged response stunned authorities. O’Neill reportedly texted back claiming her 5-year-old son had been threatening her with a knife, writing, “He chased me around with a knife and said he was going to chop me into pieces. Every time I turned around he was holding a knife I don’t know who he is.”
When the homeowners also messaged her about the situation, she allegedly sent another disturbing reply: “I told him to stay inside while I got help protecting myself. He kept grabbing a knife and was saying very scary things about chopping me up in little pieces. I am reporting him because he needs help I don’t know who that is but it’s not the same kid there is something wrong with him.”
When told to call, she reportedly replied with more bizarre texts: “I don’t have service couldn’t connect to police can you please watch him I’m trying to buy another phone.” She claimed the child had taken her phone and keys and wouldn’t let her leave the bathroom.
Around 8:10 p.m., O’Neill finally called one of the homeowners. When a deputy got on the phone, she admitted she was at a Target in Panama City — roughly 40 miles away — buying a new phone. She allegedly said she knew her son was safe with neighbors after receiving their message, so she continued shopping.
Deputies ordered her to return home immediately. She arrived roughly 90 minutes later, telling officers she “took a wrong turn” on the way back.
O’Neill later told investigators she had left her son alone at around 5:30 p.m., insisting he had been calm when she left. She was arrested for child neglect, with authorities stating she “willfully and intentionally failed to provide the child with supervision and care that a prudent person would consider essential for the child’s safety.”
She was booked into Walton County Jail on a $2,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in court for a plea hearing on November 18.
I just want the dole ,I do not care about the child.This seems to be the desire of man wom