Parents charged after allegedly leaving autistic son in car for more than 1 hour

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WXIX) - The parents of a 2-year-old child with autism pleaded not guilty to charges after they allegedly left their son alone in a car for more than an hour.

Robert Williams and Mary Smith are each facing a misdemeanor charge of endangering children, according to documents from the Clermont County Municipal Court.

The charges stem from Jan. 15 when a Clermont County sheriff’s deputy was called to Newtonsville Road to check on a child in an abandoned vehicle, the records read.

The woman who reported this to police said the RV Williams and Smith were in broke down in front of their house over the weekend.

She added the couple left and came back in a car, repaired the RV and it was then they apparently left their two-year-old in the car, according to a recording of the 911 call.

Investigators said Williams and Smith then took off in the RV.

The couple allegedly told investigators they were moving their RV to East Fork State Park and thought their son was with them, court records show.

At that time, it was around 39 degrees outside, the deputy wrote in their statement.

It is 19 miles from where there the child was found on Newtonsville Road to East Fork State Park, Google maps shows.

Bond was set at $5,000 for both Williams and Smith.

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