Toddlers Found Playing Alone In Street Just Latest Neglect Case

WESLEY CHAPEL, FL — A 26-year-old Wesley Chapel man has been charged with child neglect after deputies say he left a 2- and 3-year-old child unsupervised. The children were found by a neighbor playing in the street Wednesday around 11:20 a.m.

Shawn Perry of Saddletree Drive in Wesley Chapel was arrested Thursday after the neighbor reported finding the unsupervised children three houses from where they live.

This latest episode follows a spate of arrests for child neglect in Pasco County over the past month.

On Aug. 25, deputies arrested Whitney West, 32, and Christopher Elliott, 34, of Holiday for child neglect after they said the couple left a 5-year-old boy in the house alone for more than eight hours while they went to a bar to drink.

The couple were later found passed out in their car in the driveway of Cedarwood Drive.

The previous night, Aug. 24, Pasco County Sheriff's deputies arrested Kendall McClellan, 32, for child neglect and DUI after he was noticed driving erratically and falling asleep at stop lights. When deputies pulled him over, they found a 7-year-old girl in the car with no seat belt on.

On Aug. 18, deputies arrested Anthony Macchi, 32, of Bayonet Point after they said he left a 3-year-old alone at the child's mother's house in New Port Richey.

Deputies said Macchi dropped the child off at the mother's house around 9:30 p.m., opening the door and placing the toddler insider the home without checking to see if the mother was there. He then returned to his own home to resume a poker game. The child's mother came home around 10:30 p.m. and found the 3-year-old alone.

The same week, deputies arrested Heath Bierworth, 43, and Sara Nathanson, 31, of Hialeah Avenue in New Port Richey after they said Nathanson took Bierworth to his job at Burger King and left four children, ages 2 to 7, home alone.

Deputies were alerted when the 7- and 5-year-old children went to a neighbor's home to ask for food.

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