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HUDSON (FOX 13) - Deputies arrested a Pasco County mother who, they said, repeatedly allowed her 2-year-old son to wander from the home, ultimately leading to his drowning death last month.
It was back on April 27 when Clayton Foskey's body was found in a pond 150 yards from his home on Chenwood Avenue in Hudson. Investigators said the 2-year-old boy had walked out of the house without his mother's knowledge -- something they alleged happened so frequently that it was criminal.
After the drowning, detectives said neighbors told them that they had found Clayton wandering the streets on "multiple occasions" and returned him home. One neighbor said it had even happened twice in one day; another reported that it had taken Roxann Potts seven to eight minutes to answer the door.
"She could've done more, taken more precautions, locking doors; there's a lot of things you can do to keep an eye on your kids, and she wasn't," Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said.
The sheriff's office said Clayton's mother was smoking on the back porch and talking on the phone hours before he was found 150 yards from his house, floating in a pond.
Two other children in the home also reported similar experiences, going back several years.
Potts, who lived in the home with Thomas Foskey, have been arrested before. A report from 2012 in Hernando County showed they were involved in a drug case, where more than 300 grams of meth was seized. DCF was involved at the time.
In a long Facebook post on the day after the drowning, Potts included this:
"…Mommy tried to protect him and didn't give up… I love u so much baby I'll never go a day without u,"
Neighbor Kimberly Baker volunteered to help find Clayton when he went missing back on April 27.
"It's a tragic accident. Unfortunately, he suffered. The mom should be arrested," Baker said.
Based on their findings, deputies opted to charge Potts, 27, with child neglect.