Mother abandons her son, 7, on the road
[July 28, 2005] ZEPHYRHILLS - Fed up with arguing, mom pulled over to the side of the road.
"Get lost," authorities said she told her son Tuesday.
He got out. She drove off.
The problem: Her son is 7.
Now Lori Heine, 46, is in the Pasco County jail, charged with child neglect.
The reason for the dispute: McDonald's Happy Meals.
The boy wanted a Cheeseburger Happy Meal and a Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal, the mother told police. He told officers his mother said he couldn't have any of the burgers she bought. According to police, the mother doesn't deny abandoning the boy.
"She told him to get out of the car and go away for a while," Zephyrhills police Capt. David Shears said.
Police say the mother kicked the boy out of the vehicle outside the closed Hercules Aquatics Center at 38110 State Road 54 and drove off, leaving him alone.
He wandered next door to Zephyrhills High School's baseball diamond, John F. Clements Field. The Zephyrhills Snappers were playing the Orlando Shockers in a Florida Collegiate Summer League game. The boy walked up to a spectator and asked for help, saying he couldn't find his mother.
"He advised the (spectator) that his mother was angry at him and told him she was never going to come back and pick him up," Shears said, "and she drove away."
The spectator called police at 8:23 p.m. But officers don't know what time the boy, whose name they did not release, was left alone, or for how long. The aquatics center closes at 7 p.m.
Officers took the boy to police headquarters and contacted the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Soon after, they got a call from the boy's sister, 23-year-old Kymberly Simms, reporting her brother missing. Police told her they had the boy at the station and to bring the mother to the DCF for questioning.
Simms said Heine had called her from a pay phone to tell her she could not find the boy.
When Heine arrived at the police station, officers reported that she appeared intoxicated.
"Ms. Heine advised that she sat in the car drinking beer and that when it was getting dark she could not locate her son," Shears said.
The mother told police she tried to look for him.
"That's where the discrepancy is," Shears said. "I'm quite sure the officers did a check of the area to see if they could locate the mother, but obviously they could not locate her. That's why we took the boy into protective custody."
Heine of 39122 County Road 54, Apt. 2144, is being held in lieu of $5,000 bail. She has no criminal record in Florida. Police said the DCF launched an investigation and placed the boy with Simms, his sister. DCF spokesman Andy Ritter said the agency cannot comment on investigations.
Police are relieved nothing happened to the boy. That stretch of SR 54 is busy, especially near the baseball field. The aquatics center is fenced in, and a 10-foot fence separates it from the high school property.
The police captain said the boy would have had to walk on the side of the busy street, through a heavily wooded area, to get to the baseball field.
"We're just glad to be able to locate him," Shears said, "and get the child back to family."
http://www.sptimes.com/2005/07/28/Pasco/Mother_abandons_her_s.shtml
OMG ping
Something's not right. If the boy's sister is 23 and his mother is 22, what's wrong with this pic?
These women need to be permanently sterilized after this type of behavior. That would be one gov. benefit I would glad to pay taxes on.
Those poor kids.
May hell welcome these so called "mothers" with open arms.
Parental rights should be terminated ASAP.
/sarcasm
Mother of the *ucking YEAR!!!
The reports last night were that the mom dropped the kid on the side of the road just where 66 and the beltway converge - if there is anything worse the being dropped on the beltway, that's it. A very bad convergence zone.
Mom was picked up down near Richmond - maybe an hour or so away.
Hope Mom gets to enjoy her upcoming free room and board.
There are people who should never have children.
Jesse Jackson is almost outraged
While I would never ever do this, and do not condone it, I am going to print and save this article for my kids just so they will always consider the possibility that I just may do it if they push me too far. lol ;)
As screwed up as the system is the real shame here is that since there was no actual physical abuse involved in all liklihood the child will be back in the loving arms of "mother of the year" in short order. God forbid the court should break up a family unit, dysfunctional or not.
"Channoah Alece Green, 22, was arrested "
I guess I better not ask the race question....
'nuff said....
BTW, we solved the problem by getting a DVD in the new minivan. It's like they're on novacaine.