Appears that this involves a "stay-at-home" dad (i.e. deadbeat) who sleeps all day while Mom is working. Can't help but wonder if this dude has a drug/alcohol problem too, given how hard it was to raise him out of his stupor. Dad is identified as CHRISTOPHER SCHELL.
http://manchester-nj.patch.com/articles/toddler-safe-after-wandering-from-home-father-charged
Toddler Safe After Wandering From Home; Father Charged
Girl, 2, was spotted alone on Station Road Tuesday afternoon
A Manchester toddler is safe after police said she wandered out of her father's care and walked on township streets Tuesday afternoon.
Police received two 911 calls that the two-year-old was seen "walking in traffic" on Station Road near the World War II Veteran's Memorial Park in Whiting at about 4:23 p.m. Tuesday, said Manchester police Capt. Lisa Parker in a statement.
One of those 911 callers stayed with the child until Patrolmen Robert Sharry and Anthony Iliadis arrived and determined where the child lived. The officers, along with Patrolman Charles Gatnarek, went to the home, about two-tenths of a mile from where the girl was found, Parker said.
When they arrived, the front door was open. No one responded when officers knocked and rang the doorbell for "several minutes," Parker said.
At that point, police entered the home and found the girl's father, 28-year-old township resident Christopher Schell, asleep in bed, Parker said.
"The officers had to yell and shine a flashlight in the suspect’s face to get him to wake up," Parker said. "The suspect claimed that he was not aware that his daughter had wandered away from the home."
Schell was arrested and charged by police with endangering the welfare of a child and was lodged in the Ocean County Jail in Toms River when he could not pay the $15,000 bail set by municipal court Judge Daniel F. Sahin.
It is unknown how long the girl was away from home, Parker said, and she was placed in the custody of her mother who was at work during the incident.
Assisting the officers were Detective Adam Emmons of the Manchester Police Department and Jim Henning, investigator for the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services.
