Delhi father charged after abandoning children to go drink, police say
The children, left scared and alone, crossed a busy road to seek help.
CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A Delhi woman is credited with twice rescuing children whose father allegedly abandoned them to go drinking.
One of the children, an 8-year-old boy, told police the man leaves him and his 7-year-old sister alone, often for a long time, to go drink, according to a police affidavit.
“It does break my heart, because no child deserves to be left alone at that age,” said the woman, who spoke Monday on the condition of anonymity.
The two children crossed a busy four-lane stretch of Delhi Pike to ring the woman’s doorbell on Nov. 14, according to court documents.
A police report says the children had been home for hours.
“This is a main road, and it’s dark,” the woman said. “I wouldn’t let my 13-year-old cross the street, let alone a 7- and 8-year-old.”
The children told the women their father had left them to go drinking, according to court documents. The woman says the children were both scared.
She called Delhi police to report the situation.
Misael Deleon, the children’s father, now faces charges of child endangerment—and not for the first time this year.
Another police report from June alleges nearly the same fact pattern, though it was the woman who found the 8-year-old by.
“He was across the street crying,” she recalled. “He said his dad left him.”
The June police report claims Deleon had left the child alone to go drinking, telling him he would back in five minutes.
The woman says she decided to call the police because the boy was alone and she didn’t know what else to do. She says he was scared and that he knocked on doors in his own building without anyone opening, leading him to cross Delhi Pike.
Asked whether she ever had a conversation with Deleon, the woman answered, “I did, but he didn’t think he did anything wrong.”
Police arrested Deleon on a warrant for the most recent child endangerment charge on Nov. 26. He is out of jail on bail bond totaling 10 percent of $5,000.
Deleon will be back in court Dec. 8.
His attorney has not returned request for comment.
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