Father Says Lack of Money Led Parents to Abandon Boy, 3
The father of a 3-year-old Maryland boy who was left alone in a California shopping mall said Tuesday that he and his wife abandoned the child because he was hungry and they were broke.
“I figured that without food and without money and without diapers . . . what else could I do?” Wolfgang Von Nester Sr. told a Baltimore television station.
His wife, Lisa, told police investigators that she and her husband took Wolfgang Jr. with them to California to start a new life.
He said they were in a San Bernardino coffee shop June 2 when they noticed officers checking stolen license tags on the car they were driving. They went to various churches to get help and the local social services department, which was closed, he said.
“I just went into the mall. . . . I let him stay there,” he said. “I walked away in tears.”
He and his wife were held without bond in the Washington County Detention Center awaiting extradition to California.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
