Gabriel NavaMESA, AZ (CBS5) -
A Mesa father was arrested Sunday on suspicion of leaving his 3-year-old daughter alone and unattended in his apartment.
Gabriel Nava, 32, returned home after 12 hours smelling of alcohol, Mesa police said. Nava admitted to drinking six beers the night before, after leaving the child behind, officers said.
Police were alerted to the situation after a neighbor in the apartment complex found the child wandering in a courtyard Sunday morning.
Officers said when they arrived and entered Nava's apartment, they found it messy and dirty with clothes strewn on the floor of every room, dirty dishes in the kitchen and multiple sharp knives on the counter within reach of the child.
Police said Nava told them he had hired a babysitter to watch his child. When police tracked down the sitter, she told them no such arrangement had ever been made, officers said. The babysitter's story was confirmed by people she was with the previous evening, police said.
Nava was booked into jail on one count of child abuse.
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