A Missouri couple has been charged with child neglect after they allegedly abandoned their young son at the county courthouse.
“They were gonna take him anyway,” Jeremy Lamp told investigators, according to a probable cause statement filed in the case.
The affidavit reports that police were summoned to the Livingston County Courthouse shortly after 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Employees from the Children’s Division informed them that Jeremy and Jessica Lamp had arrived for a drug test and had their child with them. While the father’s test results were negative, the mother tested positive for methamphetamine.
The Children’s Division offered three options as a “safety plan” for the child: either the mother had to leave the home, the father and child had to leave the home, or the child should be placed with a relative. The parents rejected all three suggestions and instead pushed the baby’s car seat toward the division employee. Despite being informed they couldn’t leave the child there, the parents left the courthouse without the baby, who had no clothes, food, or other provisions for care.
Police found the Lamps about an hour later at Hedrick Medical Center. Jeremy Lamp told police that the safety plan options weren’t “viable.”
“He mentioned that Children’s Division assured him they would take the child, which is why he left Victim 1 with them,” the affidavit stated. “When I questioned him about this, he remarked, ‘the way I saw it, they were going to take him anyway.'”
The affidavit says the Lamp “willfully abandoned his biological child without remorse and without ensuring proper care.” It also notes his prior convictions, including DWI and assault.
According to KCTV, Jessica Lamp could not explain why the couple abandoned the baby. She had a prior conviction for child endangerment.
