OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A man arrested early Tuesday by Osceola County deputies is accused of throwing a 10-year-old girl out of his pickup truck and leaving her to walk home in the dead of night amid a visitation dispute, according to the sheriff’s office.
Hector Serrano, 30, faces a charge child neglect without great bodily harm. He was booked at the Osceola County Jail on a $2,500 bond, records show.
A deputy responded around 12:47 a.m. Tuesday to the area of Scott Boulevard and West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway outside of Kissimmee, not far from where multiple witness reports corroborate a visibly distressed juvenile — as well her belongings, such as toys and clothes — had been thrown out of a pickup truck near Cane Island Loop. The truck, with Serrano behind the wheel, soon sped off, ran numerous red lights and nearly struck another vehicle on the road, according to his charging affidavit.
The girl immediately approached the deputy’s patrol vehicle upon seeing it, the affidavit states. She was frantic and only able to advise that Serrano had dropped her off and taken her cellphone, adding she was walking to her grandparents’ house. The deputy noted the girl soon became too distraught to provide additional information in a non-written form.
Assisting deputies performed a traffic stop on Serrano’s truck not long after he sped away from the girl, doing so in the area of West Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway and Old Lake Wilson, according to the affidavit. When the reporting deputy arrived, they informed Serrano of his Miranda Rights and took his statements.
Though Serrano’s arrest report is partially redacted and thus lacks specific details such as names and certain relations, he spoke of having entered a verbal agreement regarding visitation, as well as claiming his alleged actions were in response to receiving a warning that law enforcement would be called on him “if he did not return her to the residence,” which the deputy reported was about a 21-minute walk from where the girl had been left behind.
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