The boy and his four brothers are now living with relatives.
A starving seven-year-old boy has been found trying to sell his teddy bear to buy food standing outside a chemist in Franklin, Ohio.
“It broke my heart,” Steve Dunham, the police officer who found the boy told WLWT, the local NBC station. “He told me he was trying to sell his stuffed animal to get money for food because he hadn’t eaten in several days.”
Mr Dunham took the child to a branch of Subway to buy him a sandwich before taking him back to the police station.
Two of Mr Dunham’s colleagues went to the child’s home, where they found he had been living amid what the Journal-News called “garbage, cat urine and liquor bottles.”
The boy and his four brothers, ranging in age from 11 to 17, were taken from the home and are now living with relatives, WLWT reported.
The parents, Tammy and Michael Bethel, have been arrested and charged with five counts each of child endangerment. They have pre-trial hearings scheduled for September 16 and ordered to have no contact with the children.
Both the parents were arraigned Tuesday, although the story was not widely reported until Friday.
“Officers see this nationwide everyday and they do go above and beyond to feed homeless, feed children … they treat people like their own family,” Franklin police chief Russell Whitman told the Journal-News. “You can look at your police departments wherever you’re at and you can find stories like this.”
Social Media Updates:
Hungry Ohio boy tried to sell teddy bear for food, police say https://t.co/SiHVTdWc86 pic.twitter.com/o2FtXbLFv5
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) August 14, 2016
ICYMI: Franklin boy tries to sell teddy bear for food; police go beyond call of duty https://t.co/Jzot1Pm5Sp pic.twitter.com/mgpTQa4FcP
— WLWT.com (@WLWT) August 14, 2016