Inset: Juan Jose Benitez-Chacon (West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: The Harrison County, West Virginia Courthouse (Google Maps).
A West Virginia man, aged 34, was detained for allegedly abandoning his 8-year-old son unattended in a garage for an entire week without essentials like food, water, or bathroom access while he traveled to Florida.
Authorities arrested Juan Jose Benitez-Chacon, who is also known as Jose Juan Benitez Chacon, on Monday. He now faces a charge of gross neglect of a child, which involves creating a significant risk of fatality or severe injury, according to court documents accessed by Law&Crime.
A Harrison County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a call at Benitez-Chacon’s residence on August 15, following a tip-off about the child living alone in the garage, as reported by WBOY, an NBC affiliate in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Upon reaching the location, the deputy found the child in a “small garage” located on the premises.
Authorities said the child had been “without access to food, water, bathroom, medical assistance or adult supervision while inside of the garage.”
Authorities reportedly gained information from the child that Benitez-Chacon had abandoned him while traveling out of state.
“Through conversations with the child and further investigation, it was established that the child had been alone for roughly a week while his father was possibly in Florida without a confirmed return date,” the deputy noted, as detailed in a report by West Virginia News citing a probable cause affidavit used for the arrest warrant.
While the boy was left unattended, investigators said others from the neighborhood did provide him with a limited amount of help.
“The child did have assistance from neighbors throughout the day but did not have any assistance during the nighttime hours and was not in sight or audible range during the nighttime hours of adult assistance,” the affidavit reportedly says.
In court documents obtained by Weston, West Virginia, CBS affiliate WDTV, authorities said the decision to leave the boy in the garage alone and without resources — particularly in case there was an emergency — was an “extremely unsafe” situation for the child.
Additionally, WVNews reported that Benitiez-Chacon in 2023 was charged with felony child neglect after being accused of leaving his then-6-year-old child unsupervised while he went out to drink alcohol for several hours. He reportedly pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor child neglect in that case and was subsequently sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation.
Benitez-Chacon is currently being held in the North Central Regional Jail on a $100,000 bond, records show. He appeared in court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to the latest charge. It was not immediately clear when Benitez-Chacon was scheduled to appear in court again.
