Man charged after young child found wandering in road

MARLINTON, W.Va (WDTV) - A Pocahontas County man has been charged after police say a young child in his care was found wandering in the roadway.

Deputies responded to a call of a child believed to be two years old found wandering in the roadway around Seebert Wilfong Rd. in Marlinton on Friday at around 5:30 p.m., according to a criminal complaint.

Deputies say they contacted Child Protective Services and arrived on the scene to find the child in the care of a resident who found the child.

A witness on the scene said she driving up a hill and came around a corner when “the child came running up to her car,” the criminal complaint says. She then got out of her car and took the child to a nearby home. When she found out the child did not live at that home, she called 911.

Deputies say the child was then determined to be in the care of 37-year-old Michael Beverage, Jr., of Marlinton, and drove to his home.

When deputies arrived at Beverage’s home, he allegedly answered the door and asked if they had “found the child” and that he was “looking for the child.”

Court documents say police asked Beverage why he never called 911 while the child was missing for over an hour, and he said “he was busy looking in the woods.”

Beverage has been charged with child neglect. He is being held at Tygart Valley Regional Jail on a $20,000 bond.

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