A man was arrested after police found a little girl wandering the street alone and barefoot.
Kevin Kleinknight, 36, had smoked cannabis before leaving his three children, ages 10 and under, alone for at least an hour, according to a Gainesville Police Department arrest report.
An officer found a girl, about 4 years old, running on a sidewalk and tried to locate her parents and home, the report said. When her home was identified, the only people inside were the girl’s siblings.
It was extremely dirty, with animal feces, dirty clothes and trash covering the floor, the report said.
After finding a phone number to contact the parents, the officer called them. Kleinknight’s wife said he was picking her up from work and she was on her way.
When they arrived about 20 minutes later, they admitted to regularly leaving the children unattended while Kleinknight drove his wife to work, the report said.
The wife’s workplace was a five-minute drive or 15-minute walk from the residence, the report said, but Kleinknight took more than an hour for the couple to return after the wife’s shift ended at 9:30 p.m.
The Department of Children and Families placed the children in the care of family members due to the home’s condition, the report said.
Neglect arrest: Gainesville cops find squalid home, kids alone
Police said the home was extremely dirty, with animal feces, dirty clothes and trash covering the floor.
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