A three-year-old girl from suburban Dallas is missing after her father told her to stand outside the house by herself as punishment for not drinking her milk, Reuters reported on Tuesday. Sherin went missing from an alley behind her home on Saturday, the police said on Monday.
The police said her father, Wesley Mathews, was arrested for suspected child endangerment. The 37-year-old was taken into custody on Saturday after reporting the incident to authorities and has been released on bond. Mathews is yet to respond to news reports about the incident.
“Mathews said he asked his daughter to stand near a large tree at 3 am (on Saturday) because she would not drink her milk,” an arrest affidavit said. The father told the police he checked on her after 15 minutes, but she was gone. Mathews called the police five hours later. He said he had seen coyotes in the alley where he told his daughter to stand, the affidavit said.
Sherin was born in India and was adopted by Mathews’ family. She suffered from malnourishment before arriving in the United States and is on a special diet, said Sergeant Kevin Perlich, a spokesperson for the Richardson Police Department.
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