An arrest has been made in connection with the 2-year-old boy who was abandoned Monday at a Mississippi Goodwill, and his mother has told authorities her son was kidnapped against her will.
Police are seeking the public’s help after the toddler was left at the Southaven Goodwill location on Stateline 57 about 10 a.m. Monday by an unknown man, according to several reports. The child was left with a plastic Kroger bag with a few clothes, food and a note. The woman who has identified herself as the child’s mom, Antoinette Smith, said she had no intention of leaving her son, Sergio, at the Goodwill.
Smith told Facebook personality and activist Barbara Buress that the man who kidnapped her son was an acquaintance she met Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee. She left Sergio with who she thought was the man’s sister.
“If I knew that, I said I wouldn’t have left my baby like that. Ain’t no way I would have left my baby. That’s all I got with me,” Smith said during a Facebook Live conversation with Buress.
The man eventually revealed that the woman was his girlfriend, not his sister. He also suggested that she prostitute herself, and when she refused, the man left her at a Nashville store. From there, Smith said she believed Sergio was taken and left at the Mississippi store.
A Goodwill employee told police the man walked up to him and said “the child’s mother couldn’t care for him” before walking away. Police swept the area, but they were not able to locate the man. The note left with the child was written on a paper towel, with the note reading: “child abandoned…no phone number for mom.”
On Monday evening, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department in Memphis, Tennessee, arrested a suspect related to the case at a Kroger store in Cordova, Tennessee. The investigation is ongoing. No suspect information or charges are being released, but authorities have confirmed that Sergio is still in Child Protective Services custody.
South Haven Police Department Chief Macon Moore released a statement monday.
“Chief Moore would like to thank all of the citizens who showed concern for the child, rest assured he is well, and being taken care of and will be re-united with family when CPS determines this is proper,” the statement read.
Smith has now returned to the area, according to Buress.
Surveillance cameras in the area captured images of the man and a woman reportedly connected to the incident. Anyone with additional information can contact 662-393-8652.
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