An Arkansas man faces charges that include filing a false police report and second-degree battery after telling authorities that a child was kidnapped by the "Aryan Nation."
Police said they located Dean Edward Winner, 43, on Saturday near the intersection of Fayetteville's West Dickson Street and North West Avenue after witnesses reported seeing a man "assaulting an infant in a stroller," according to a Fayetteville Police Department arrest report. A stroller and diaper bag were found in the area, the report said, but the child -- who was later determined to be 19 months old -- was not there.
"Winner told the officers he was attacked by members of the Aryan Nation," police wrote in the report. "He also said 'they took my baby.' Winner also told officers he became angry with the infant and abandoned him on the side of the Razorback Greenway Trail."
Winner appeared "highly intoxicated" and was "difficult to communicate with," the report noted, though nearly a dozen officers responded to the call to begin searching for the missing child.
One of the officers went to Winner's home in Fayetteville, where his wife and the missing child were located.
The wife told investigators that her husband had visited her at the hospital, where she was recently admitted to give birth, and left with the 19-month-old.
"[The wife] was concerned as it became late in the day because Dean is an alcoholic," police wrote, noting she called her husband, determined he was "intoxicated" with the toddler in public and then left the hospital to retrieve the youth.
Police say the child had a swollen upper lip and a chipped tooth "consistent with being struck in the mouth purposefully."
The child was not hurt when Winner left the hospital with him, the report noted.
Winner remained in the Washington County jail Monday afternoon with bail set at $35,000. He also faces charges of endangering the welfare of a minor, disorderly conduct and public intoxication.
State Desk on 09/12/2017