The uncle of a 4-year-old Middletown boy was who was found in the woods in Wethersfield after an Amber Alert was issued for him has been charged with risk of injury to a child in connection to the case.
Mario Jenkins, of New Britain, is accused of leaving his young nephew with a person who is addicted to drugs and lying to his sister about the circumstances of the disappearance of her son.
According to court documents, Middletown police called New Britain police at 6:07 p.m. on June 1 to report that they were investigating a kidnapping in New Britain.
The mother of the missing child told police that she left her 4-year-old son with her brother, Mario Jenkins, of New Britain, at his home on May 29 and he called her at 11:20 a.m. on June 1 and told her the little boy was missing after he woke from a nap.
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She told police that Jenkins said his friend, Stephanie Fonda, went to his house at 8 a.m. and asked to use a car and to take the boy out, but he refused and fell asleep. When he woke, the boy and the car were missing, he said, according to police paperwork.
Jenkins told her that he made several attempts to contact Fonda, but was unable to reach her, according to police paperwork. Then Stephanie’s husband, David Fonda, texted Jenkins, indicating that the little boy was fine, the car had broken down and not to call police, according to the arrest warrant application for Jenkins.
After the little boy’s mother contacted police, an Amber Alert was issued.
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When police spoke with Jenkins, he gave police a similar account of events that he told his sister, according to police.
The little boy, Stephanie and David Fonda were found on the night of June 1 at the 5th Avenue Motel, at 1695 Berlin Turnpike, in Wethersfield.
Wethersfield police arrested David Fonda and charged him with risk of injury to a minor and reckless endangerment in the second degree. He was held on bond, was arraigned Wednesday and did not enter a plea. Bond was set at $75,000.
Stephanie Fonda was turned over to the Rocky Hill Police Department due to an active unrelated warrant, according to police. She appeared in court on Wednesday and bond was set at $50,000.
When police spoke with Stephanie Fonda, she told them that Jenkins asked her to babysit the little boy, allowed her to use a car and she was supposed to pick Jenkins up after work at 10 p.m., but she ran into trouble, according to police.
While she had the little boy, she picked up her husband, David Fonda, at an emergency room and they wanted to get “dope bags,” so they went to Hartford, then they got high, ran out of gas and their cellphones were not working, according to police.
Around 11 p.m., Stephanie said, she called Jenkins to make him aware of what was going on and he called her a “crackhead” and demanded that she return the car, according to the arrest warrant application.
She also told police that David had friends at the 5fth Avenue Motel in Wethersfield and they went there and bought drugs and took naps.
David Fonda told police he escaped a halfway house and his wife picked him up at Middlesex Hospital and they had been getting high since.
He also said they drove around with the little boy in the car while they were getting high.
When police spoke with Jenkins, he told police that he never told anyone else about the little boy being unaccounted for and under the care of Stephanie Fonda, who is a known drug addict, and he notified his sister on June 1, lying to her about the circumstances of the little boy’s disappearance, according to the arrest warrant application.
