A Texas man was arrested over the weekend after abandoning a 9-month-old baby with a broken leg inside a shed and then stealing a truck, according to media reports.
Clifford Jason Guynes, 43, was charged with injury to a child and abandoning/endangering a child, KPRC, KSAT’s sister station in Houston, reported.
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Police in Livingston, a city an hour north of Houston, said that Guynes left the baby in the shed at around 3 a.m. Saturday and took off in a resident’s car — but the child wasn’t discovered until hours later.
KPRC reported that the ordeal was caught on a homeowner’s security surveillance footage.
Katherine McClain told KPRC that the footage showed a man, later identified as Guynes, attempting to break into her family’s vehicles outside their home.
The man, who was in his underwear, eventually stole their neighbor’s truck at around 6 a.m., according to police.
Police lifted fingerprints from the vehicles that Guynes attempted to steal and noticed blood on them.
Three hours later, the homeowners’ dogs began barking at the shed, and that’s when they found the child inside.
“I was freaking out. I looked down and this little baby was just looking up at me. They gave me permission to pick her up and wrapped her up in a towel and I ended up holding her making sure she was okay and safe. Traumatic experience,” McClain said.
The baby was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital and had a broken femur.
Guynes was eventually found in San Jacinto County driving the stolen truck, KPRC reported.
Police said Guynes, who is the baby’s father, had just been released from the Montgomery County Jail. On Sept. 16, he was arrested for a warrant issued by the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole.
He has a history of drug and assault charges, KPRC reported.
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