
Jeremy J. Rouse (Seminole County Jail). Background: The area in Altamonte, Florida where Rouse's son was allegedly found running naked onto the interstate (Google Maps).
A 35-year-old father in Florida who was out delivering food for Uber Eats has been arrested after he allegedly left behind his young special needs son who was later found running naked and alone along the interstate.
Jeremy Jaron Rouse, who allegedly said he continued with his deliveries to avoid damaging his delivery rating, was taken into custody this week and charged with one count of cruelty toward a child by child abuse without great bodily harm, a felony, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, an officer with the Altamonte Springs Police Department at about 11:06 p.m. on Oct 16 responded to an on-ramp of Interstate 4 regarding a report of an unattended child.
Upon arriving, the officer said he "observed a juvenile running naked down the westbound on-ramp of I-4" and an adult male — who would later provide his witness report to police — chasing after the child, grabbing hold of the boy just as he was about to enter oncoming traffic. The child's age was not disclosed by authorities.
While trying to identify the boy, who appeared to be nonverbal and to have autism, police said a 911 call regarding a missing juvenile matching the boy's description had just come in. The father, later identified as Rouse, and an unidentified woman were in contact with police and agreed to meet the officer and the child at a nearby Walgreens.
However, only the woman who called 911 looking for the child came to the Walgreens to pick him up.
The woman told police she and Rouse had been delivering for Uber Eats that evening with the boy in the back seat. She said she fell asleep at about 9:30 p.m. and when she awoke at 11:30 p.m., she "realized that [the boy] was missing from his seat, which only contained the child restraint system."
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When she asked Rouse where the boy was, she said he "appeared shocked," and said he "thought the child had been sleeping while he picked up food orders." Asked if he checked on the boy while she slept, Rouse allegedly said " he had no idea the juvenile was missing."
They then drove back to the shopping center where the restaurants were located to search for the boy, which is when they saw the patrol vehicles stopped on I-4 with the emergency lights activated and called 911 in hopes they had found the child.
After confirming police had the child, the woman said Rouse "continued driving eastbound on I-4, passing the patrol vehicles" where officers were speaking with the witnesses who had saved the boy, and instead got off at another exit.
"While on the phone with dispatch, [the woman] was advised to meet officers at the Walgreens off Wymore Road," the affidavit said. "[Rouse], however, refused to turn around, telling [the woman] he did not want to return to Altamonte Springs because he was afraid he would be blamed for the incident. [The woman] then drove alone to Walgreens, arriving approximately 53 minutes after [police] had arrived and been waiting with the juvenile."
After providing a written and sworn statement, police said the woman "recanted her entire statement."
At about 3:30 a.m. that same evening, the same officer responded to a local Wawa because Rouse was "at the location requesting to speak with law enforcement."
Rouse allegedly said that earlier in the evening, he had picked up food from the Wawa and was driving to the delivery destination when they "realized the juvenile was no longer in the vehicle."
"[Rouse] admitted that instead of immediately returning to search for the child, he continued his delivery route from Northlake Blvd to SR 436 and then onto I-4, passing several marked patrol units," the affidavit says. "He continued toward Winter Park to complete his delivery, despite knowing the autistic, nonverbal child was missing. Jeremy stated he did not want to negatively affect his UberEats rating."
After completing the delivery, Rouse said he got out of the car and let the woman pick up the child alone because he "feared being arrested due to the incident."
Though the woman's name is redacted from the document, it appears that the officer has recommended that she be charged with child cruelty for allegedly allowing Rouse to "continue to make food deliveries" after the boy went missing and perjury for allegedly lying to the officer about what took place that evening.
Rouse was released on $5,000 bond and is scheduled to appear for his arraignment on Dec. 2, records show.