Parents Charged After 7-Year-Old Son Found Allegedly Trying to Sell His Stuffed Animal for Food
Tammy and Michael Bethel of Ohio have been charged with five counts each of child endangerment, after their 7-year-old son was found outside a local drug store allegedly trying to sell his teddy bear for food.
Police tell NBC's WLWT-5 that they received a call on Sunday that the young boy was wondering downtown area of Franklin, Ohio, alone.
When officer Steve Dunham found the boy, he said he was peddling his stuffed animal so that he could eat. The boy reportedly told Dunham he hadn't eaten in several days.
"It broke my heart," Dunham told the news station.
The officer then took the child to a nearby Subway restaurant, where the two "said a little prayer and ate dinner together" before returned to the Franklin Police Department.
Chief Russ Whitman of the Franklin Police Department confirmed the story to PEOPLE.
"Our message is that these types of incidents happen all across the nation by law enforcement officers everywhere," Whitman told PEOPLE. "People can look in their own area and can find hometown heroes just like our officers."
Two other officers – Amanda Myers and Kyle O’Neal – went to the child’s home, the Journal News in Hamilton reported. There, they found a home full of "garbage, cat urine and liquor bottles."
"[The parents created] a substantial risk of health and safety by neglecting the cleanliness in the residence, having a large amount of bugs and spoiled food throughout the residence, not having properly prepared and packaged food for the minor children to eat, and allowing a 7-year-old child to wander from the residence without their permission or knowledge, in an attempt to locate food," Myers wrote in her initial report, according to the Journal-News.
The Bethels – who are parents to three other boys – did not realize their 7-year-old son was not in the house, according to the Journal News.
They were both arraigned in a Franklin Municipal Court on Tuesday on their first-degree misdemeanors, according to the Associated Press. Both parents plead not guilty to the charges, according to AP. A pretrial hearing has been set for Sept. 16.
The Franklin Municipal Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Child services authorities have placed the other children – ages 11, 12, 15 and 17 – with relatives. Judge Rupert E. Ruppert has ordered that the parents were not to have any contact with their children, WLWT-5 reported.
