Inset: Juan Jose Benitez-Chacon (West Virginia Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation). Background: The Harrison County, West Virginia Courthouse (Google Maps).
A 34-year-old father in West Virginia has been arrested for allegedly leaving his 8-year-old son alone and unsupervised in his garage without food, water, or a bathroom for an entire week while he took a trip to Florida.
Juan Jose Benitez-Chacon, also known as Jose Juan Benitez Chacon, was taken into custody on Monday and charged with one count of gross neglect of a child creating a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
A deputy with the Harrison County Sheriff”s Office responded to Benitez-Chacon’s home on Aug. 15 after receiving a tip that the boy had been living alone in the garage, Clarksburg, West Virginia, NBC affiliate WBOY reported. Upon arriving at the address, the deputy said he located the boy inside a “small garage” on the property.
Authorities said the child had been “without access to food, water, bathroom, medical assistance or adult supervision while inside of the garage.”
When speaking with the victim, authorities reportedly said they learned that his father, Benitez-Chacon, had left him there while he was out of the state.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
“When we spoke with the child and through the investigation it was determined that he was alone for approximately one week while his father is in Florida with no known return date,” the deputy wrote, according to a report from West Virginia News, which cited a probable cause affidavit for an arrest warrant.
While the boy was left unattended, investigators said others from the neighborhood did provide him with a limited amount of help.
“The child did have assistance from neighbors throughout the day but did not have any assistance during the nighttime hours and was not in sight or audible range during the nighttime hours of adult assistance,” the affidavit reportedly says.
In court documents obtained by Weston, West Virginia, CBS affiliate WDTV, authorities said the decision to leave the boy in the garage alone and without resources — particularly in case there was an emergency — was an “extremely unsafe” situation for the child.
Additionally, WVNews reported that Benitiez-Chacon in 2023 was charged with felony child neglect after being accused of leaving his then-6-year-old child unsupervised while he went out to drink alcohol for several hours. He reportedly pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor child neglect in that case and was subsequently sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation.
Benitez-Chacon is currently being held in the North Central Regional Jail on a $100,000 bond, records show. He appeared in court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to the latest charge. It was not immediately clear when Benitez-Chacon was scheduled to appear in court again.
