Inset: Jhadon Robert Michael Curry (Laramie County Sheriff's Office/Cowboy State Daily). Background: Laramie County Sheriff's Office (Google Maps).
A Wyoming man who allegedly insisted to police that his infant son was sleeping inside his house — where he had "just put the baby to sleep" — was apparently shocked to find the child locked inside his hot car instead.
Jhadon Robert Michael Curry was questioned on June 16 by deputies from the Laramie County Sheriff's Office responding to a call that an impaired man was about to drive away with a child in the car, Cowboy State Daily reported.
Law enforcement reportedly arrived at the Cheyenne home shortly after 8:30 p.m. to find Curry insistent that the baby was sleeping on a bed inside the home. He allegedly called the child's mother and told her he had "just put the baby to sleep," police say.
The investigating deputy searched the home and came up empty — finding only an empty crib in the room where Curry said the baby was — and eventually discovered the child inside Curry's Cadillac Escalade, strapped into a rear-facing car seat.
The child, who was reportedly sweating and crying while inside the locked SUV, was "very hot to the touch, like he had a fever," according to the probable cause affidavit reviewed by Cowboy State Daily.
However, even after deputies found the baby, Curry allegedly insisted that the child was not in the car, and was actually inside the house.
"He is in there!" he reportedly told law enforcement when asked where the baby was. "I just put him to sleep!"
"He is in the house! What are you talking about?" he also allegedly said.
After deputies were eventually able to get Curry to unlock the Escalade — he apparently did not have his keys on him at the time — Curry reportedly expressed shock.
"Man, he's in my car?" the man said, according to the affidavit.
Deputies reportedly noted that Curry whispered to the child's mother that he was bringing the baby to her workplace so she could breastfeed him — but the mother told deputies that Curry had made that up and asked her to repeat it, the affidavit says.
The baby was determined to have been left inside the SUV for just over a half-hour. The car was locked and all the windows were up, deputies noted. The temperature was around 75 degrees when deputies arrived at Curry's home that night, Cowboy State Daily reported; when a car's windows are closed, the temperature inside can rise 20 degrees in 10 minutes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Curry has been charged with one count of misdemeanor child endangerment, Cowboy State Daily reported. His arraignment is scheduled for July 31.
The Laramie County Sheriff's Office listed Curry as a current inmate on Friday.