Trucker Charged With Leaving Son Outside Strip Club

INDIANAPOLIS -- A man arrested after he called 911 to report his tractor-trailer had been stolen with his 5-year-old son inside while he was in a strip club was charged on Wednesday.

Donald Crawford, 39, of Franklin, was charged with neglect of a dependent and public intoxication in the incident early Tuesday morning on Indianapolis' near-south side.

Slideshow: Police: Man Reported Child, Truck Gone After Strip Club Visit

In a four-minute call with 911 at about 1 a.m., Crawford's speech was slurred as he tried to tell a dispatcher where he was.

Crawford admitted to the dispatcher that he had left the child inside while he went into the strip club, Sassy Kat's Showclub, in the 1500 block of South East Street.

"I need to report a stolen vehicle and a lost child," Crawford said. "He was in the vehicle when it was tooken (sic)."

But when officers arrived, they discovered that the truck had not been stolen, but that Crawford was too intoxicated to find the vehicle, police said.

The boy was found watching cartoons inside the truck, which had been left unlocked with the keys in the ignition.

"He was sleeping," Crawford told the dispatcher when she inquired about why he left the boy in the truck.

A bartender at the strip club told police Crawford had been drinking there for about 45 minutes.

His wife came from Franklin to take custody of the boy, and the truck was towed.

Crawford was being held Wednesday in the Marion County Jail on $10,000 bond. He will have an initial hearing on Monday.