Man charged after allegedly leaving child to bar hop

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NAUGATUCK — Police arrested a borough man Saturday after they said he left his child with an acquaintance to go bar-hopping in Waterbury without informing the child’s mother, who was at work.

Adrian Valentin, 36, of 71 Oak St., was in contact with his 29-year-old girlfriend, who lives with him and is the mother of their 2-year-old boy, while she was working a double shift Friday, said Lt. Robert Harrison of the Naugatuck Police Department. Sometime during the day, Valentin stopped returning her messages and dropped the child off at an acquaintance’s house on West Main Street in Waterbury, Harrison said.

Valentin’s girlfriend came home from work in the evening to find him and the child missing, and enlisted family and friends in the search before calling police Saturday at about 1 a.m., Harrison said. Police found Valentin’s red 1997 Ford Mustang on Grove Street in Waterbury at about 4 a.m., Harrison said. Valentin only knew the nickname or “street name” of the man he left his son with, Harrison said. Valentin had gone to a doctor’s appointment, then a club, then two different bars in the city, Harrison said.

Police found the child in good health at the acquaintance’s house and charged Valentin with breach of peace, risk of injury to a child, reckless endangerment and first-degree custodial interference. He was held on a $100,000 bond and appeared Monday in Waterbury Superior Court.

Special to the Citizen’s News