An Eatonton man was arrested when he left his infant son home alone while he was “hanging out” at Waffle House, authorities say.
Jerome Ayre, 25, of Jefferson Road, Eatonton, was arrested shortly after midnight Monday, Dec.
12 and charged with one count of reckless conduct, according to Putnam County jail reports.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said Ayre and his wife were renting and living in the basement of their landlord’s house. The landlord came home Sunday evening and overheard the infant crying downstairs in the basement. Because it didn’t appear that anyone was home, the landlord went downstairs to the basement to check and she found the 8-month-old baby alone on a bed, crying, so she called the sheriff’s office.
Deputy John Jackson Jr. arrived to the home about the same time Ayre did, the sheriff said. Ayre initially told the deputy he had gone out to get some juice for the baby, but further investigation revealed he had been at Waffle House for a while. The restaurant is about four miles from his residence.
Ayre was arrested and booked into jail, while the baby was left in the attendance of his mother, Sills said. He noted that the incident report did not reveal where the mother had been. Ayre was released on a $730 cash bond, according to jail records.