7-year-old left alone with no food or water, father arrested
by Pat Reavy ksl · KSL.comSOUTH SALT LAKE — A South Salt Lake man was arrested Monday night and accused of leaving his young daughter alone with no food or water.
Anthony James Johnson, 42, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of child abandonment.
Police were called Monday to an apartment complex where a 7-year-old girl was allegedly "left alone in a vacant apartment. The father, Anthony Johnson, left his daughter unattended in a vacant apartment with no furniture, food or water," a police booking affidavit states.
A woman discovered the girl after she "heard the juvenile screaming for help and noticed she was alone," according to the affidavit.
The woman stayed with the girl for an hour until eventually calling police.
When officers finally spoke with Johnson, he said he had left his daughter alone for 30 to 45 minutes to buy groceries, the affidavit states.
Police also noted in their affidavit that the girl "made an excited utterance (that) Anthony made her work for her food, as well as making a statement (that) Antony will beat her after today's incident," according to the affidavit.
Johnson has a long history of drug-related crimes, according to Utah court records. Court records state he was ordered on Sept. 4 to wear an ankle monitor due to violations in his current case.
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Pat Reavy
Pat Reavy interned with KSL in 1989 and has been a full-time journalist for either KSL or Deseret News since 1991. For the past 25 years, he has worked primarily the cops-and-courts beat.