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Mother, Boyfriend Held After Boy Found Wandering on Freeway

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From Associated Press

A 7-year-old boy was found wandering barefoot on interstate freeway lanes Wednesday after his mother and her boyfriend abandoned the child at a remote site as a discipline lesson, authorities said.

The child was forced out of a car into darkness after midnight in rural Yolo County, sheriff’s investigators said. The boy was also forced to leave his shoes and jacket in the vehicle.

Police later broke into a Sacramento house and rescued a 5-year-old sibling who had also been left alone.

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The mother and boyfriend were arrested and charged with two counts each of felony child endangerment, sheriff’s detectives said. The woman was identified as 27-year-old Navy reservist Frances Elaine Onidas and her boyfriend as 41-year-old Sacramento janitor Lowell Russell Thornton.

Thornton was also charged with one count of possessing a concealed and loaded firearm.

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