Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings wrote on Monday to the State Attorney’s office asking that formal charges not be pursued against a 14-year-old boy who said he was only trying to help a 3-year-old tot find her mom, when he walked her out of the Burlington Coat Factory store on June 10th.
In his letter to the State Attorney, Lawson Lamar, Sheriff Demings said:
“Although there was probable cause for the arrest of Edwin McFarlane for the June 10, 2010 incident at the Burlington Coat Factory, after careful review of the circumstances, I write today to ask your office to forgo bringing any formal charges against this young man”.
Meanwhile, in related developments, the Sheriff’s Office on June 17, launched a formal inquiry after a sworn member of the agency close to the investigation, discussed specific components of the McFarlane investigation with someone outside the agency and posted the information on a popular internet blog site, a statement from the Sheriff’s Office said today.
Based on the internal investigation, an employee within the agency has been identified and that individual has been removed from any further involvement in the McFarlane case, the statement said.
Edwin McFarlane, the 14-year-old boy who was shopping with his mother, Mildred Roman in the Burlington Coat Factory store on 7475 west Colonial Road, more than two weeks ago, was arrested and charged with false imprisonment, after he escorted the toddler from the store in search of her mother.
McFarlane had said from the outset that he was just trying to help. Prior to leaving the store, McFarlane had told his mother that he was going to help the girl find her mommy.
According to a report on the investigation from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Ms. Gizelle Pierre, the toddler’s mother, had turned away in the store to return an item to its location when she noticed her child was missing. Pierre said she quickly ran out of the store, discovered McFarlane walking with her daughter who told her, “I was helping her find her mommy.” She retrieved her child.
The Sheriff’s Office in their statement today said their internal investigation regarding the employee who had discussed the case outside the agency is continuing.
