A Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy is facing a neglect charge after his nonverbal autistic son was found running down Main Street in only a large sweatshirt at 11 p.m.
Ean J. Hescher, 38, of Lowell was charged Tuesday with neglect of a dependent, a Level 6 felony.
Lowell Police responded May 31 to E. Main and Mill Streets where they found the child.
A motorist called 911, when he couldn’t get the boy’s attention. Police estimated the child was around four.
An officer managed to catch up with the boy and stop him before he got to railroad tracks, an affidavit states.
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Paramedics took him to the hospital. Initially, police took his picture, showing it to surrounding residents, but couldn’t find his parents.
Eventually, they found the mother’s home. The boy’s sister said she was coming home from work.
Hescher, the boy’s father, who lived separately, was watching him, the girl said.
Police went to the 200 block of Prairie Street where they found the back gate open.
Hescher told them the boy probably escaped through the “back door.” They had gone to Lemon Lake earlier that day.
When told the boy was half-naked, Hescher, who police knew through prior contact, said the child normally wore a diaper, saying he was probably trying to go to his mother’s home.
Just then, the boy’s mother pulled up, crying.
She told officers “this only happens” when the boy stays with Hescher, the affidavit states.
Officers noted Hescher’s home appeared “deplorable” with garbage and broken drywall littered inside. They called the Indiana Department of Child Services.
Lake County Sheriff’s Department Spokeswoman Pam Jones said Tuesday he became a deputy in July 2014.
He is on “administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation,” she wrote in a statement.