Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A North Carolina man, Isaac Elijah James, aged 29, was taken into custody after a toddler aged 13 months was discovered in a hotel parking area with a tobacco wrap in her mouth.

On June 25, at approximately 7:51 p.m., an officer from the Gainesville Police Department arrived at the Home2 Suites by Hilton located at 2115 SW 13th Street. This came after a 911 call reported a child wandering in the parking lot alongside a driver appearing unconscious in his car.

According to the officer’s account, paramedics found James asleep in his car’s driver’s seat, while a man nearby had the 13-month-old child in his care.

The officer reported that James woke up and became angry with the officer and paramedics and tried to walk away multiple times; James reportedly snatched the child from a paramedic and refused to cooperate with the investigation.

The officer reported that James was sweating profusely and appeared to be under the influence of some substance, and a paramedic told the officer that James’s vital signs were elevated, possibly from a narcotic.

James reportedly said he and his girlfriend were visiting from North Carolina and were staying at the hotel. He said he and his girlfriend had gotten into an argument, and he had left the room with the child.

The officer went to the front desk, where a hotel employee confirmed that James had checked in at about 6 p.m.

The officer went with James to his hotel room and found James’s girlfriend asleep; she said she had no idea what was happening because she had been very tired from driving and had decided to go to sleep.

James’s girlfriend said she and James had argued and she felt overwhelmed and went to sleep; she said James left the hotel room with the child, and the next thing she knew, she was being awakened by the police.

A couple staying at the hotel reportedly told the officer that while walking to their car, they saw the child walking unattended in the parking lot. They said they heard a vehicle blow its horn, but once the driver of that vehicle realized the child was unattended, he got out of his vehicle and picked up the child.

The couple told the officer they saw a brown tobacco wrap in the child’s mouth, and the man who picked her up took it out of her mouth. The officer reported that tobacco products were found on the ground next to James’s car.

James has been charged with child neglect without great bodily harm. His criminal history is currently unavailable; Judge Meshon Rawls set bail at $5,000.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.