Two children, ages 3 and 5, wandered into traffic and were nearly struck by a vehicle while the teenager watching them slept inside their home, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded Tuesday, Nov. 3, to the 7500 block of Tam O’Shanter Boulevard after receiving a report of two young children unattended in the roadway.
A man told deputies he saw the children standing in the middle of the street and pointed toward their home.
The children’s mother, Janay Traeshawn Readon, 38, was away from home and had left them in the care of her 15-year-old son, according to the arrest report.
Neighbors told deputies the children had returned to their apartment and locked the door behind them. After several attempts, deputies persuaded the children to unlock the door.
Inside, deputies found Readon’s 15-year-old son asleep in a rear bedroom wearing headphones. He initially did not respond to their attempts to wake him and appeared disoriented when he awoke, according to the report.
Readon told deputies she knew her adult daughter had to leave for work and arranged for her 15-year-old son to watch the younger children until she returned.
The 5-year-old has autism, and the 3-year-old has epilepsy. Deputies said both children require increased care and supervision.
According to the report, this was the third incident involving children being unsupervised in less than two months.
On Sept. 26, a child left the home through the front door to go to a park. On Oct. 5, two children were found unsupervised at a playground behind North Lauderdale Elementary School, investigators said.
Readon was arrested Tuesday at her North Lauderdale home on two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.
Her bond was set at $500 on each count, totaling $1,000.
