Thirty-four year-old Anthony Perry of Springfield, Massachusetts is facing charges of reckless child endangerment after allegedly leaving his girlfriend’s son in a car to buy a 51-inch television on Black Friday morning.
Perry, however, denies leaving the two-year-old boy unattended. Instead, he says, the boy got lost while they were shopping in K-Mart.
According to reports, K-Mart staff requested police assistance after making several failed attempts to reach the child’s caretaker via the store intercom.
Contrary to Perry’s story, police discovered the boy sleeping in the store parking lot “in a Nissan Venza at around 1:30AM Friday and had to force their way into the car to get the child,” according to the Daily Mail online.
The boy was taken to Baystate Medical Center where he was examined and said to be OK.
Perry was supposed to be babysitting while the child’s mother was at work. However, police later found Perry at his home with his new 51-inch television in tow. Authorities are still unsure how Perry made his way from the K-Mart plaza–where he purchased the television–to his home without taking the car he abandoned at the store.
Perry also did not call the police to report the child missing, according to the Springfield Police Captain Cheryl Claprood.
Perry was not arrested and is still awaiting formal charges. The incident has also been referred to the state Department of Children and Families.
