May 19, 2013
Police said a father-son joyride ended with the man being arrested in a dollar store parking lot on charges of child abuse.
Wilmington Police said before 9 p.m. on Monday night, they got a call to the Dollar Store on South College Road, where there was a report of an abandoned child.
Police said they arrived to find a 6-year-old boy playing with toy cars in the parking lot. Police said the child had been there for hours.
Looking around the scene, officers said they found the child's father, 28-year-old Jonathan Curtman passed out in bushes near the dollar store with two packages of spice in his pocket. North Carolina outlawed spice, known as a synthetic form of marijuana, in June of 2011.
Investigators said it appears Curtman drove his son from Jacksonville to Wilmington on his motorcycle, bought the toy cars at the store, and told his son to play on the ground behind the bike. Officers said after that, the father passed out in nearby bushes.
The 6-year-old is in now in his mother's custody, according to police.
Curtman was arrested for child abuse and given a $5,000 bond.
