HOUMA, La. (AP) - Terrebonne Parish sheriff's deputies say a 10-year-old boy was found starving and scarred as he walked alone along Grand Calliou Road Tuesday morning, and his father now faces child abuses.
Dawn Foret tells The Courier 34-year-old Nicholas Verdin allowed his son to walk to his grandmother's East Houma home alone.
When deputies stopped the child to ask why he was by himself, Foret says the child told them that he was walking home.
Deputies say the boy had both old and fresh cigarette burns on his hands and feet.
The Department of Children and Family Services has taken custody of the child.
Verdin was booked with cruelty to a juvenile, and is being held at the Terrebonne Parish jail.
It was unclear whether he has an attorney.