Dad left 3-year-old son alone in truck in freezing weather--so he could smoke pot (Indianapolis, Indiana)

I suspect this may have been a custody/visitation situation, but the details are not clear.

Dad is identified as RONALD ALBRECHT.

http://www.indystar.com/article/20130213/NEWS/130213046/Police-Dad-arrested-after-leaving-3-year-old-along-truck

Police: Dad arrested after leaving 3-year-old alone in truck

Feb 14, 2013
Written by Kristine Guerra

An Indianapolis father was arrested after, police said, he left his 3-year-old son unattended inside his pickup truck while he was in a nearby trailer smoking marijuana.

Police were called at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to the Garden City Mobile Home Park in the 4900 block of Rockville Road on a report of an unattended child. The caller told police that the toddler had been in the truck for about 30 minutes and the vehicle’s engine was off, according to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report.

Officer Jason Thomas did not see anyone in the area but heard loud conversation coming from a trailer nearby. There, he talked to Ronald Albrecht, 33, who later said he’s the boy’s father, Thomas wrote in his report. Three other people where inside the trailer.

Albrecht said his son had only been in the pickup truck for 5 minutes. He later changed the time to 10 minutes, and altered it again, saying the toddler may have been there for 15 minutes. He also said he left his son there because he didn’t want the boy to be in the trailer while he smoked pot, Thomas wrote in his report.

The child was alert and conscious when police went to check on him. He was cool to the touch, his feet were bare, his overall appearance was unkempt, and he did not have a blanket to cover him, Thomas wrote. Temperature that morning was 28 degrees.

Police and medics later found that the child was autistic and was unable to communicate. He was taken to Riley Hospital of Children, where hospital staff found that the boy’s diaper was full, and he had not eaten anything that day, the report said.

Albrecht has been preliminarily charged with neglect of a dependent. He's being held on a $1,000 cash bond at Marion County Jail, according to the county jail log.

A Child Protective Services case worker conducted an investigation and met with the child’s mother at Riley.