KATY, Texas – Neighbors who live on Sandi Lane in Katy noticed a little boy sitting in a ditch playing alone in the dirt.
“He was really dirty and sweaty,” Leslie Jerez said. "I was asking him, ‘Where’s your mommy? What’s your name?’ He wouldn’t respond, but he came with me.”
Jerez guessed he was around two years old. She and a neighbor started asking around, but no one knew the toddler or where he came from. The neighbor stopped in at the Katy Learning Center, a school for kids with learning disabilities on the corner of Westheimer and Sandi Lane, about a quarter-mile from where they found the boy.
“She said, ‘Well, they don’t think anyone’s missing.’ But she brought a staff member out, he looked and said, ‘Oh yeah…that is one of our kids.’” Jerez explained. “The scary thing is they didn’t know he was missing.”
Jerez called the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office to report the incident. A deputy told Channel 2 it’s unclear how the toddler got away unnoticed. The school sits at a very busy intersection, and Jerez said she hasn’t stopped thinking about the incident and what could have happened if she hadn't found him.
In a statement, the director of the Learning Center, Laura Gore, said, “I want to apologize to the parents and the child for this unfortunate incident. We take our responsibilities towards the children entrusted to us very seriously. We are continuing our investigation of the matter and will take whatever steps necessary to make sure an unfortunate incident such as this does not happen again.”
“As a mom, I would want to know that’s happening,” said Jerez. “Even if it’s an isolated incident.”