MID-CITY — A father who left his child in a drug store was arrested for child endangerment on Sunday.
At 7:58 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 11, the Santa Monica police responded to the 900 block of Ninth Street regarding a missing child. When officers arrived at the scene, they spoke to the child’s father, who said that his child was missing.
SMPD Lt. Frank Fabrega said the father, Glenn Scott Robarge, wasn’t able to give officers specific information as to the whereabouts of his 5-year-old son.
The mother, who was at work at the time the child was missing, also didn’t know the child’s location.
Officers began to search the residence, vehicle and neighborhood in an attempt to locate the child. At approximately 8:30 p.m., an officer in the 900 block of Ninth Street was contacted by an employee of the Sav-on drug store located at 26th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.
The employee said a child was there without a parent. The employee, who said he saw the child in the store earlier with his father, conducted a name search on the computer and located the father’s address.
Fabrega said the drug store sent the employee to contact Robarge, at which time the employee encountered the police.
Officers went to Sav-on and located the boy, who was unharmed. Apparently the father had forgotten his son at the store, Fabrega said.
The Los Angeles County Department of Children & Family Services was notified. The department responded and assisted officers in the investigation.
Robarge, 41, of Santa Monica, was arrested for child endangerment, and the boy was released to the mother.
Fabrega said there was no indication of drug involvement in the incident.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 14, 2005. Read the original PDF.