Background: The 200 block of North Lakeview Drive in Waco, Texas, where Merquez Bershawn James allegedly left a baby on the front porch of a home (Google Maps). Inset: Merquez Bershawn James (McLennan County Sheriff's Office/KWTX)
A Texas man is accused of abandoning a 1-month-old baby on the front porch of the child's mother's house — and police officers say they have the security footage to prove it.
Merquez Bershawn James, 35, is facing a felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child with no intent to return, Waco CBS affiliate KWTX reported. According to the station, police were called to a home in the 200 block of North Lakeview Drive at around 2 p.m. on Nov. 28, after the child's mother told officers that James had called to say he was dropping off the child.
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The child's mother had apparently told James she wasn't home, but James went ahead and left the baby in a car seat alone on the porch of the house.
Police say that doorbell camera footage shows James leaving the child, KWTX reported, citing police documents.
"Officers were on the scene for over 30 minutes and the defendant did not come back in temperatures of 61 degrees, with a 'feels like' temperature of 51 degrees due to wind chill," police noted in the arrest report.
The child's mother said she had called James several times to tell him to go back and get the child, but he allegedly did not do so.
According to KWTX, James was held on a $10,000 bond. The McLennan County jail confirmed to Law&Crime that James was brought into the facility on Wednesday, but was no longer in custody as of Friday.
James faces a potential maximum of 20 years in prison for the felony charge.