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The child was found crying in New Haven County in Wolcott around 9:30 p.m., Thursday, May 19, according to police.
Police officers responded to a home on Long Meadow Drive where a neighbor found a very young child wandering in the front yard all by himself, wet and crying, said the Wolcott Police.
The neighbor picked up the barefoot child, who was only wearing shorts, and a T-shirt, and immediately called the police, the department said.
The child was found by the neighbor after she heard a dog barking and went outside to see what was happening. That's when the dog came running from the neighbor's backyard with the child following, police said.
Officer Sara Carrillo took the child and comforted him until his father arrived. Other officers found the front door to the home unlocked, and the back door open, police said.
They entered the house to check for parents, and possibly other unattended children, but found the house empty, except for two other dogs.
While the officers were checking the house, the mother of the child, Amanda Milligan, age 28, returned home and asked why the officers were at her home, officers said.
Milligan told officers she had left her son alone because he was fine watching TV, and she had thought her husband was on the way home, so she left him alone and went to Petco, the department said.
She found that Petco was closed, so she stopped at a gas station to take pictures of her car, then went right home, police added.
The father of the child was contacted and immediately drove home from work in New Haven. He had told officers that he was supposed to work all night, officers said.
Milligan was charged with the risk of injury to a minor and released after posting a $1,500 bond.
The Department of Children and Families was notified and began an investigation.
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