THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050458
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: BRIEFS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 35 lines
A Norfolk man was charged with child neglect Tuesday after two of his neighbor's toddlers were found alone in the middle of a Lafayette Park-area street.
Kenny Fontain, 55, was arrested after a baffling day for investigators, who tried for several hours to determine the whereabouts of the 2- and 3-year-old girls' family.
Police spokesman Larry Hill gave this account:
About 10:25 a.m. police were alerted to the girls after receiving a call that they were playing near the intersection of Lafayette Boulevard and Dupont Circle. They could only tell police their first names. They did not know their address.
Throughout the day, no one called police about missing children, and they were turned over to child protective services while the case was being investigated.
At 5:10 p.m. police received a frantic call from the girls' father, who said they were missing. His description of the girls matched and they were returned to him.
The father, whose name was not released, told police he had arranged for a neighbor in the 100 block of Dupont Circle to baby-sit the girls at 6:30 a.m., but that neighbor did not answer the door, so he left them with another neighbor.
Hill said the neighbor began drinking some time after taking charge of the girls and was ``in an alcoholic condition'' when police arrived.
He was then taken to police headquarters.
KEYWORDS: CHILD ENDANGERMENT NORFOLK POLICE DEPARTMENT CHILD
NEGLECT