1/4/2022- 4:13 p.m.
An Arizona couple were accused of child abuse after they left their 11-year-old son by himself for a month during the holidays, authorities said last week.
The boy’s mother, 34, and father, 40, were indicted after they returned to their home in Elfrida, southeast of Tucson, on Wednesday, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday.
Jail records showed that the couple, whom NBC News is not identifying to protect their child’s identity, was in custody Monday at the Cochise County Jail. They were being held in lieu of $100,000 bond.
Deputies found the boy on Dec. 12 after someone told authorities that he had possibly been alone at home for an undetermined period of time, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputies learned that his mother had traveled out of state before Thanksgiving. His father left shortly afterward, the sheriff’s office said.
The boy told authorities that he hadn’t gone to school in two weeks and had been left alone with frozen food. When deputies couldn’t reach his parents, the boy was turned over to child protective services, the sheriff’s office said.
Additional details about the allegations weren’t immediately available, and it wasn’t clear whether the couple had lawyers.
