Autistic boy, 5, found wandering outside NYC laundromat while mom in custody for alleged home invasion

"An autistic 5-year-old boy was found wandering alone barefoot outside a Queens laundromat - while his mother was in custody for a home invasion robbery, law enforcement sources and police said Wednesday. Leshea Harris, 30, was facing a slew of charges after she allegedly abandoned her kids, including the little boy, to partake in a violent Brooklyn stick-up with an accomplice on Monday night, authorities said."

"Surveillance footage obtained by The Post showed the tot aimlessly running around near the business without shoes on before he encountered the worker as she was opening the laundromat. "I was scared and worried, to see him alone out there without his parents," Rojas recalled in Spanish on Wednesday. "I asked him, 'Where are your parents?' He just looked at me and smiled, and he just kept looking at me. He didn't speak, didn't say anything.""

"The NYPD issued a plea to the public in search of his parents, leading a family friend to call authorities and direct them to an apartment on Beach Street, where they found another seven children, sources said. The kids, between the ages of 8 and 11, told authorities they hadn't seen Harris since the night before, at around 10 p.m. Monday, sources said. When cops ran the mother's name, they discovered Harris was a suspect in a home invasion in New Lots that happened at around 9:10 p.m., sources said."

A non-verbal, autistic 5-year-old was found barefoot outside a Far Rockaway laundromat early Tuesday morning. A laundromat worker encountered the child after surveillance footage showed him wandering without shoes. The worker asked about his parents and the child did not speak. A public plea led a family friend to an apartment on Beach Street, where authorities found seven other children aged 8 to 11 who said they had not seen their mother since about 10 p.m. Monday. Leshea Harris, 30, is accused in a New Lots home invasion and faces multiple charges related to the incident and abandoning her children.

Read at New York Post