Newport News, Va. - A Newport News has been charged after police say they found her 9-year-old son home alone in a disheveled apartment with little to no food available.
Police say at 3 a.m. on November 3rd, they went out to the 300 block of St. Thomas Drive after receiving reports about a child who was calling for help.
They knocked on the apartment door and the 9-year-old answered. He told them he was there alone and did not know his mother's whereabouts. He says he'd been home since 2 a.m. and he had just woken up.
He told them he did not have a way to contact his mother, later identified as 29-year-old Charlotte Marie Smith.
Police found two possible phone numbers for Smith but they did not get an answer when they called.
Child Protective Services was called and they took charge of the child.
CPS stayed at the home until 6 a.m. The mother still did not come back home, so CPS took custody of the 9-year-old.
Smith has been charged with contributing to the delinquency to a minor, and she was arrested at 10:40 p.m. in the 6000 block of Jefferson Avenue.
She was released on summons, but her son is still in custody of CPS.
