HOT SPRINGS, Ark. — Garland County prosecutors charged a Hot Springs man with two counts of child endangerment this week in connection with a 5-year-old boy found wandering barefoot near a highway last month with human waste smeared on his face and in his hair.
A passerby found the boy walking by himself along the side of the highway near the 5700 block of Central Ave. and called law enforcement June 15, according to court records. The shoeless boy had cuts and blisters on his feet and human feces smeared on his face and in his hair when members of the Garland County Sheriff’s Office arrived and transported him to an area hospital.
Jared Steele Johns, referred to as “Uncle Jared” by the child, had allegedly punished the child by putting feces on his face and in his hair after a toileting accident, according to court records. Johns allegedly hit the child on his head several times, as well.
Investigators determined that the boy had been living with Johns in a storage unit behind a business in the 5900 block of Central Ave.
Investigators searched the storage unit June 26 after obtaining a search warrant.
They found “living quarters built out of cardboard boxes, duct tape, and some wood frames,” court records state.
There was evidence that two people, including a child, had been staying in the storage unit, which measured approximately six feet by five feet. Investigators observed that it was about 15 degrees hotter in the storage unit than it was outside, noting that it was 93 degrees on the day the young boy was found unattended near the roadway.
Johns faces one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a minor and one felony count, according to records. The felony count is punishable by up to six years in prison, a fine of up to 0,000, or both. The misdemeanor charge is punishable by up to a year in the county jail and a fine of up to ,500.
Johns is currently free on a 5,000 bond.
