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Mom Arrested After 35-Pound Boy Begs For Food

10-Year-Old Told Different Stories

Posted: 11:35 am PDT June 11, 2007

Authorities said a Port St. Lucie mother has been charged with child neglect after her 10-year-old son was found weighing only 35 pounds -- less than half the normal weight for boys his age.

Police said the boy showed up at his elderly neighbor's home around 7:30 p.m. Saturday asking for food. According to police, the boy told his 83-year-old neighbor that he had been living in a shed in the woods and was starving.

Investigators said the 10-year-old had matted hair and was visibly malnourished. Detectives have not released the boy's name to the public.

Police told WPBF-TV in West Palm Beach, Fla., that the boy's mother, Kelleen Deon Murray Auguste, 37, called police Saturday night and said that her son had gone missing. Investigators said that when they arrived at the home, they found very little food inside.

Auguste, who has eight other children and is pregnant, was arrested and charged with child neglect for not seeking treatment for the boy, police said. She is currently being held at the St. Lucie County Jail on $150,000 bond.

Police said none of Auguste's other children seemed malnourished, though no food was found in the home. The Department of Children and Families took the seven youngest children into their custody, WPBF reported.

Auguste reportedly told police the boy had been living in Haiti with his father until about a month ago, and he has not been able to keep down any food since. She said she didn't seek medical treatment because she doesn't have health insurance.

Police told WPBF the boy had given them conflicting reports as to what had happened. Though the boy had told them he had been living in a shed behind his mother's home, no such shed exists, police said. According to police, the boy also told them at one point that his name was Mike Tyson. It is not.

The malnourished boy was taken for medical treatment at the St. Lucie Medical Center Saturday night.

Police said they are looking for the boy's father and that the case is still under investigation.

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