"Man denies leaving boy at NFL game" Associated Press / October 15, 2011
CLEVELAND - A man accused along with his wife of abandoning their 9-year-old foster son at a Cleveland Browns game denied leaving the boy behind, calling it a misunderstanding.
Ernest Fugate said he and his wife had tickets for different sections of the stadium’s end-zone area during the game, and each thought the other one had the boy.
“Neither one of us knew the child was lost,’’ he told the Associated Press yesterday.
Fugate and his wife, Anna, have pleaded not guilty to child endangering.
According to a police report, two people said a woman sent the boy off with them while they were walking into the game between the Browns and Miami Dolphins on Sept 25. The two people then turned the boy over to security, the report said.
The boy told detectives the couple argued before the game and that Ernest Fugate, 54, left to enter the stadium, leaving him with the foster mother.
Officers stopped the couple in their car after the game, the report said. Police said the couple first told them the child had walked away before the game and then said they thought he was with the other parent.
“When asked why they were leaving without the child, they shrugged,’’ the report said. They laughed when an officer asked why they did not report the child missing, the report said.
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At least the Brownies won.
