A Cheyenne father has been charged with child endangerment after Laramie County Sheriff’s Office deputies say he repeatedly told them his infant son was asleep inside his house when instead the baby was strapped inside a hot Cadillac Escalade parked outside the home.
Jhadon Robert Michael Curry, born in 1998, made his first court appearance on Tuesday and was set for a July 31 arraignment, according to charging documents made available by the Laramie County Circuit Court on Thursday.
The investigation began when deputies were dispatched around 8:34 p.m. June 16 to a home in south Cheyenne after receiving a report of an allegedly impaired man who was about to drive away with a child in the vehicle, according to court documents.
When they arrived, Curry repeatedly insisted the baby was inside the house and not in the Escalade, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in his case.
After looking for he infant for just over 30 minutes, deputies eventually found the baby crying inside the locked SUV.
The child was sweating profusely, crying loudly and "very hot to the touch,” the affidavit says. American Medical Response was called to evaluate the infant.
Empty Crib
Deputy Aaron Mondragon entered the home and asked Curry where his son was, the affidavit says. Curry allegedly answered that the baby was asleep in a back bedroom.
Mondragon searched the room and found only an empty crib.
When the deputy told Curry the baby wasn't there, the man changed his answer, saying the infant was "on the bed," the affidavit states.
The deputy searched again but still couldn't find the child.
While deputies continued searching the home, Curry called the child's mother on speaker phone and told her he had "just put the baby to sleep," according to investigators.
Crying From SUV
After searching the house a second time, Mondragon walked outside to Curry's Escalade, where he found the infant strapped into a rear-facing car seat in the locked SUV.
Another deputy reported hearing the baby crying from inside the vehicle.
Even after deputies located the child, investigators say Curry continued insisting the infant wasn’t in the hot vehicle and inside the house.
When asked where the baby was, Curry allegedly pointed toward the residence and yelled, "Yeah! He is in there! I just put him to sleep!"
Moments later, deputies asked him again.
"He is in the house! What are you talking about?!" Curry allegedly replied, the affidavit says.
'Man, He's In My Car?'
Deputies instructed Curry to unlock the vehicle, but he said he didn't have the keys.
After retrieving them from inside the house, Curry unlocked the Escalade with the key fob.
By that point, Mondragon had already opened the SUV and was removing the infant from the car seat.
According to the affidavit, Curry looked at the deputy and asked with surprise, "Man, he's in my car?"
He then quietly added, "I didn't get back too long ago."
The deputy who wrote the affidavit described Curry's voice had lowered in tone, "as if ashamed."
Cover Story
Investigators wrote that the infant was "sweating profusely, crying very loud and a lot," and was "very hot to the touch, like he had a fever."
According to the affidavit, Curry later whispered to the child's mother that he was bringing the baby to her workplace so she could breastfeed him.
The child's mother told investigators Curry had made up the explanation and asked her to repeat it to deputies, according to the affidavit.
Using a timeline compiled during the investigation, deputies concluded that the infant had been left inside the locked SUV for about 31 minutes with the windows rolled up.
Curry has been charged with one count of child endangerment, a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both if convicted.
During his initial appearance Tuesday, Judge Antoinette Williams set Curry's bond at $7,500 cash only.
Danger
Federal safety officials warn that children are especially vulnerable to heat inside parked vehicles because their bodies warm three to five times faster than adults.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the temperature inside a vehicle can rise about 20 degrees in as little as 10 minutes, and cracking the windows or parking in the shade does little to slow the increase.
Heatstroke begins when a child's core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees, and temperatures of 107 degrees or higher can be fatal.
Historical weather observations from the National Weather Service's Cheyenne airport station show it was about 75 degrees outside when deputies arrived that evening at Curry’s house.
The NHTSA reports there is no amount of time that is safe to leave a child unattended in a vehicle because dangerous temperatures can develop even when outdoor conditions seem relatively mild.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
