Authorities weigh charges after boy wanders off

Fayetteville, N.C. — Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office investigators were trying to determine whether to file criminal charges after a 3-year-old boy wandered away from home Wednesday and was found along a busy street.

The boy left his home at 2438 Silverbell Loop shortly after noon, and a resident found him walking on a stretch of Bingham Drive, authorities said. The child had been crying and appeared to be lost, they said.

K-9 officers were called so dogs could track where the boy had come from, and they canvassed a nearby neighborhood, authorities said. After they figured out where the boy lived, investigators found his caregiver was inside asleep and was unaware he was lost, they said.

The boy’s mother was out of the state and had left her son in the care of a friend, authorities said.