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Father arrested after leaving 5-year-old alone on Ogden campus in middle of the night

Posted at 1:08 PM, Oct 21, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-21 23:21:13-04

OGDEN, Utah - The man accused of leaving his 5-year-old daughter alone on a college campus in the middle of the night is out on bail after police arrested him Friday morning.

Police found 41-year-old Adrian Justin Sanchez hiding at his mother's home in Ogden. Lt. Tim Scott said Sanchez tried to hide in a bedroom, before he surrendered and police took him into custody.

He was being booked into the Weber County Jail on a felony charge of child abuse by abandonment.

Hours later, the jail confirmed he had posted bail. The girl's mother and another family member told Fox 13 two family members bailed Sanchez out.

"It's very hard, he has put her through so much," said the girl's mother Gena.

Campus surveillance video showed Sanchez leaving his child with a few blankets on the Ogden Weber Applied Technology College back on Oct. 9.

The young girl was left alone until a security guard found her crying, police said.

The video showed he left the girl around 5 a.m. and a security guard found her at 7:30 a.m., when the temperature was 39 degrees.

While Gena said they were relieved to hear of Sanchez's arrest, it was quickly replaced with disappointment upon finding out that he posted bail.

"I'm frustrated at the way the system works," she tearfully said.

Lt. Scott said while in police custody, Sanchez refused to talk.

"We would have like to have asked those questions-- why you left a five-year old at the campus, unattended, without a parent, in the early morning hours," Lt. Scott said. "He wasn't able to provide that for us. He wasn't cooperative with investigations."

"He's a grown man. He needs to take responsibilities for himself," Gena said, of the 41-year old father.

Lt. Scott did say that Sanchez has made admissions to family members. But still, the question remains over why he would allegedly abandon his daughter, never return, then hide from police.

While his case begins to play out in court, Gena said she'll pursue a protective order as well as removing Sanchez's parental rights.

"I'm scared for my daughter," Gena said. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect her."