Man arrested for child neglect

A 42-year-old Stock Island man was arrested Wednesday after state officials and Deputies found three young children unattended in a trailer mobile home.

Renel Atoine was charged with child neglect. He was also arrested on a previous warrant for domestic battery.

Sgt. David Fernandez responded to a trailer at 6500 Maloney Avenue at 2:30 p.m. Saturday where he met with a Florida Department of Children and Families investigator who stated the DCF received an anonymous complaint via their tip line that domestic violence occurred or was occurring at the residence. The investigator stated he was greeted by three small children ages 2, 4 and 8. The children told the investigator and Sgt. Fernandez they were home alone. A neighbor told Sgt. Fernandez the father left the trailer about an hour prior to Sgt. Fernandez’s arrival.

The DCF investigator called the father, identified as Atoine, and the father stated he was at the convenience store and would return. Attempts to reach the mother were unsuccessful. Sgt. Fernandez contacted the mothers’ possible places of employment, but could not reach her. While the DCF investigator and Sgt. Fernandez were waiting for Atoine to return, an older female emerged from the trailer who appeared to be in her young 20s. She stated she lives in a back room, that she is not a caretaker for the children, that she had no contact information for the parents and that she did not wish to provide her identification. She woman added that she did not wish to speak any further to either the DCF investigator or Sgt. Fernandez.

The children were wearing only underwear and the trailer was hot inside. Sgt. Fernandez estimated the trailer was 10 to 15 degrees hotter than outside. There was an air conditioning unit in the hallway, but it did not appear to work. The oldest child showed both men their bedroom, which was about 10 square feet. The children indicated all of them including their mother and father sleep in the same room. There was food in the kitchen.

The DCF investigator told Sgt. Fernandez the children would likely be placed in DCF care given there was no one to care for them on scene.

The DCF investigator called the Sheriff’s Office again at 6 p.m. to report the mother arrived at the trailer shortly before 6 p.m., but she left the scene with the children when she was told the children were to be taken into protective custody. Antoine never returned.

Deputies searched for the mother and children, but were unable to locate them.

The DCF investigator called Sgt. Fernandez the following day and told him a judge signed a court order to take the children into protective custody.

Deputy Aaron Roddy later found the mother in the trailer, but the children were not with her. The mother stated the children were with a babysitter at Stadium Trailer Park in Key West. The mother stated DCF did not have her correct phone number and that she didn’t know Antoine left the children unattended.

The children were located where the mother stated and taken into protective custody.

A second warrant was issued for Atoine’s arrest for child neglect alongside the previous warrant for domestic battery.

Sgt. Fernandez found Antoine Wednesday. Antoine stated he did not return to the trailer on Saturday after the DCF investigator called him because he did not want to get arrested.

He was booked into jail Wednesday afternoon.

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