A Florida couple is facing criminal charges after a teenage boy claimed to authorities that they abandoned him on the side of a busy highway with two bags containing cash and guns, ordering him to take care of the house before speeding away.
Bradley Leon Guerrero Santos, 36, and Roseanella Mendola Borja, 35, of North Port, were arrested on October 3 in Wauchula and charged with child negligence without serious bodily harm, according to Sarasota County online jail records.
Santos has also been charged with enabling a youngster to possess a handgun.
As of Thursday, they were still being held in the Sarasota County Jail on $500,000 bonds apiece.
The alleged crime was discovered on Oct. 1 when police responded to a 911 call about a juvenile kid roaming along Interstate 75, according to a probable cause document obtained by PEOPLE.
According to the affidavit, the child, whose name has not been released due to his juvenile status, informed an officer that he was riding in a 2006 Toyota 4Runner with Santos, Borja, and an 8-year-old sister when they pulled over and forced him to get out.
The youngster, whose relationship with the couple is unknown, told police that when he returned home from school that day, the two of them were swiftly packing, “frantically” shoving clothes into duffel bags and into their vehicle.
According to the affidavit, he stated that one of them had been acting strangely recently and that the couple was planning a trip to Guam or Idaho.
When they were driving down I-75, the youngster expressed his desire not to leave Florida.
He then claimed that they pulled over on the side of the road, handed him two bags containing two handguns and cash, and urged him to get out, according to the affidavit.
According to the affidavit, when officers returned the youngster to his home, they discovered the doors wide open and the house in disorder.
It is unknown whether the couple has hired solicitors to speak on their behalf.
