Woman charged after toddler found wandering highway

April Dawn Dutton

A baby sitter was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and failure to report a missing child after her 3-year-old charged was found wandering the highway Sept. 11.

April Dawn Dutton, 35, faces the charges after a call to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Sunday, Sheriff Shannon Oliver said.

“We had a call around 11:30 a.m. from a motorist who had noticed a child walking in the ditch, a 3-year-old child,” Oliver said. “We went to the location, and the child had some abrasions on his arms.”

Oliver said EMS was called, and the little boy was turned over to DHR. The FCSO was able to determine where he belonged and questioned Dutton.

“He was staying there with a baby sitter, and the baby sitter had last seen the child around 7 a.m. and had been looking for the child,” Oliver said. “She should have called us way before then, especially with the child being only 3 years old.”

The child was discovered a little less than half a mile from the house, near the intersection of Highway 87 and Highway 48.

Bond had not been set as of Monday afternoon.