LAKE MARY, Fla. - A U.S. Postal Service worker found a child wandering in the middle of a Florida roadway, naked and unsupervised, police said. Two other witnesses driving behind the mail truck also observed the child in the street, according to the Ocala Police Department.
One witness provided the child with a T-shirt to wear. The toddler had several scratches on the body, a bruise near the right eye, and a bloody nose, an Ocala police officer noted in a report. The child was also covered in sand. Ocala Fire Rescue provided care until Marion County Fire Rescue arrived and transported the toddler to the hospital for medical treatment.
An Ocala police officer and K-9 arrived and started checking nearby homes. The officer said he found a house with two doors left open and outside the home were dirty diapers, car seats, and a baby stroller. Officers suspected this to be the house where the child lives.
No one answered the door after several attempts to make contact, the officers said. Fearing something could be wrong inside, they entered the home for a well-being check and found the toddler's parents, along with an infant child asleep.
The parents said that the toddler was being watched by Qualinda Robinson, 33, who lives at the residence. Robinson was not at the home, but when she returned she explained that she texted the child's mother that she would be leaving the house to go to the store, police said.
Robinson was charged with child neglect-without great bodily harm and taken to the Marion County Jail for her role in this incident. The Florida Department of Children and Families also responded.