Inset: Halee Russo (Lake County Jail). Background: U.S. Highway 27 near County Road 466A in Fruitland Park, Florida (Google Maps).
A Florida daycare employee is facing a child neglect charge after authorities say a young boy wandered away from a playground, ran across a busy highway and narrowly avoided being struck by traffic.
Halee Russo, 27, was charged with child neglect without great bodily harm, according to police. The incident unfolded shortly after 11 a.m. Friday, when worried drivers began calling the Fruitland Park Police Department after spotting the child running through traffic on U.S. Highway 27 near County Road 466A, where the speed limit is 50 mph, a probable cause affidavit states. Several motorists stopped to help and safely returned the boy to the daycare without injuries.
Investigators said Russo told deputies she normally checks whether the gate leading from the playground to the parking lot is secured, but did not do so that day. Police wrote that she initially claimed the child got out while she was attending to other children and was found by a parent near the front entrance. Russo said she chased after him about five seconds after he opened the gate and caught up by the time the parent intervened.
Authorities said that account did not match statements from multiple witnesses, who reported seeing the boy run across the highway. Those witness accounts, police said, suggested the child had been out of sight for significantly longer than Russo first indicated.
According to the affidavit, Russo became emotional when confronted with those statements and told investigators she was “just doing what her boss told her.” She had been employed at the daycare since November 2024, police said.
Russo later told deputies the last time she saw the boy, he was about to go down a slide. She said she then turned her attention to another upset child and estimated she lost sight of the boy for about two minutes. She also alleged that her boss instructed her to lie so the daycare would not be shut down. The daycare’s name was redacted from the police report.
“The defendant confirmed the juvenile was solely in her care and she was not providing the juvenile with adequate supervision, putting the well-being of the juvenile at risk,” cops wrote.
Officers arrested Russo and took her to the Lake County Jail, where she has since posted a $2,500 bond. Her next court date is set for July 6.
