Malnourished Boy, 2, Left At Home Covered In Feces: Police

PHOENIX, AZ — Officers walked into a grim scene on Thursday, June 21, responding to a call for a welfare check-in an apartment complex in the 800 block of E. Bell Road, according to a report. As a result, a 25-year-old man was arrested for child abuse and other related charges.

Police said when they entered the apartment of Jesus Andres Garcia, around 3 p.m., they found a severely malnourished boy alone in a Pack n' Play in the back bedroom. He had feces on his hands, legs, feet and around his mouth, the report said. He was wearing a long-sleeve onesie with the bottom open and no diaper.

"The entire apartment was covered in roaches, trash, dirty diapers, spoiled food, dirty clothes, drug paraphernalia, empty marijuana bags," the police report says, and had a "heavy urine smell."

Doctors later told police the child was suffering from malnutrition, weighing only 19 pounds. They were concerned about the boy's development because he could not walk or talk. He has since been placed into foster care by the Department of Child Services.

See the full report here.

An employee of the apartment complex, who was with police, contacted Garcia, who said he was on his way back home. They met at the office of the apartment complex, where police questioned him. His story didn't quite add up, police say.

Garcia claimed to have left his apartment at 1 p.m. that day, two hours earlier, police say. He told police he was "driving around, trying to get money out from his plasma donating card so he could buy food and diapers for his child," despite also saying there were diapers and baby food in the car.

Police found a McDonald's receipt on the passenger seat which said he made the purchase at 2:02 p.m. that day, the report says.

Police say Garcia told them he left the his child at home because it was too hot out, and that the boy had problems breathing in the heat. The functioning air conditioning was at the apartment was off, however, police say. When police asked him another time why he left his child in the apartment, Garcia said, "I don't know. I deserve to go to jail," the report said.

Garcia faces physical abuse of a child, endangering the life and health of a minor contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a minor.

Article image Maricopa County Sheriff's Office