Aug 3, 2016 3 min read

MONESSEN – The mayor of Monessen found a 4-year-old boy, naked from the waist down, wandering alone Tuesday in the middle of a busy city street.

Mayor Lou Mavrakis said he got out of his car, stopped traffic and drove the child to the Monessen Municipal Complex, where police and Children and Youth Services in Westmoreland County were called to find the boy’s parents.

“I’m a father, grandfather and great-grandfather. What was I going to do?” Mavrakis said Wednesday. “My heart just went out to him.”

City police went to Rebecca Street, near where the boy was found about 8:20 a.m. on Route 906 north, and an officer knocked on doors “in hopes of contacting anybody with any knowledge of who the child may have belonged to,” the patrolman stated in the affidavit supporting criminal charges that were later filed against the mother.

“Unfortunately, nobody answered their doors for me,” police Officer Jeffrey Smaracheck stated in the affidavit.

The mother, Tosha Rae Arnold, 34, of 314 Rebecca St., was eventually arrested Tuesday and later released from custody after she posted her $10,000 bond set by District Judge Joseph Dalfonso.

She was charged with endangering the welfare of children, reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct, court records indicate.

Police took the child from the municipal complex to the police station after the first attempt to find his mother was unsuccessful.

Two hours passed and 911 had not received a call from any parent whose child was missing. The boy has a speech impediment and was unable to identify his mother. He was given crayons and watched television with the officer until a CYS caseworker arrived at the station, court records indicate.

The officer said he returned to Rebecca Street with the boy at 10:30 a.m. and the child pointed to his home at 314 Rebecca St.

Arnold allegedly “seemed unfazed and generally irritated” at her son over what had taken place that morning, the record states.

The officer and caseworker found the home to be filthy, with live insects throughout the kitchen and living room. Bags of garbage were found on the floor, emitting foul odors, the officer noted in the affidavit.

The refrigerator contained just a tray of old lasagna, a case of beer and condiments. Arnold also had other children, ages 5, 7 and 8 in the house at the time.

Arnold allegedly told police she didn’t notice that the 4-year-old was missing after she awoke about 8:30 a.m. She also told the officer she routinely leaves her son outside unsupervised “because he usually doesn’t go anywhere,” the record states. She also claimed to have moved a year ago from Detroit to the Mon Valley as a single parent because the father of her children was incarcerated in Michigan, according to the affidavit.

CYS placed the children in the custody of Arnold’s relatives.