Inset: Annie Rivera. Background: The area of NW 17th Street and NW 7th Avenue in Miami, Florida, where Rivera's 6-year-old son was allegedly found walking alone (WTVJ).
A 30-year-old Florida woman was arrested after she allegedly ditched her 6-year-old son who was later found wandering the streets of Miami all by himself.
Annie Rivera is accused of child neglect without great bodily harm. According to a probable cause arrest affidavit, cops responded shortly after 11 p.m. Wednesday to the area of NW 17th Street and NW 7th Avenue after a 911 caller said a young child was walking in the area without adult supervision.
"Mommy drop me off and left me," the boy allegedly told cops.
Police sent out a "need to identify" flyer to local authorities. Around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, a representative from the Miami-Dade Public Schools called cops and helped them identify the boy and gave them contact information for his mother. Investigators then learned there was a report from the Department of Children and Families from last year about alleged "concerns with inadequate supervision."
Officers then spoke with a woman who lived with Rivera. She said Rivera and the boy were not at home when she went to sleep around 11:30 p.m. on the night in question. She heard the front door open in the middle of the night and assumed it was the defendant and the boy. When she awoke in the morning, she saw Rivera sleeping but the boy was not in the home. She thought he may have been with his godmother.
Police detained Rivera at her apartment in the 1500 block of NW 7th Court — which is not far from where cops found the boy — and placed her into custody. She said she finished work around 8:20 p.m. and she and the boy entered a Lyft which drove them home.
Rivera said she tucked the boy into bed and later took another Lyft to meet a friend to eat before she worked another job. She returned home between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. before going to sleep. The defendant did not realize her son was gone until DCF contacted her on Thursday morning, according to the affidavit. She allegedly said she thought her roommate took her son to school.
But Rivera did not ask nor coordinate with her roommate to take the boy to school.
"The defendant took full responsibility and admitted it was her fault," cops wrote.
Local NBC affiliate WTVJ spoke with the man who called cops after spotting the boy walking by himself.
"This is odd for him to be in an area like this," Arnett Johnson told the TV station. "I said, 'man, it's a little [boy] over here, looks like he's lost, he's in an odd area, but you all need to come get him.'"
The outlet also interviewed Rivera's roommate who was contacted by DCF after cops identified the boy. She said she then called the boy's mother.
"I was like 'hey, where's your son? They said they found your son,'" she told WTVJ. "She said 'I thought you took him to school this morning.' I said 'you didn't ask me, I know I didn't take him to school,'" she said.
Rivera was taken to the Miami-Dade jail where she has since posted $2,500 bond. She pleaded not guilty. Her next court date was not listed.