Hearing Today For Child Abandoned in Overtown

A man who says he is the father of boy found in the care of an intoxicated stranger is expected to appear in court

A temporary custody hearing is expected Sunday for a small boy whose mother left him with a stranger after she spent Friday night drinking in Overtown.

The boy, believed to be 2-3 years old and possibly named Joshua, has been in the care of the Department of Children and Families since a tipster called police to say he had been abandoned with an intoxicated man.

When officers arrived to the apartment building on NW 3rd Street, Walter Ochoa answered the door of the apartment and told police that the mother, whom Ochoa could not identify, arrived at the complex Friday night and began drinking.

Early Saturday morning, Ochoa said, the woman told him she needed to run out but would be back to pick up her son.

She never returned, and police have yet to locate her.

"He's scared and upset because his mother didn't come back and he was waiting for her," said a neighbor, Serena Corona. "We all kind of, like, worked together to feed him and stuff like that and keep him calm."

Ochoa, whom police described as still intoxicated, could not provide a name for the mother other than suggesting she is called "Glenda" or "Brenda."

Shortly after the story went public, a man claimining to be the boy's father arrived, saying in Spanish that he was worried for his son.

He spoke with detectives Saturday night, and has been asked to bring paperwork proving paternity to today's court hearing.

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