Two charged with child abuse after 8-year-old is found wandering in a convenience store late at night

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. (WBTV) - Deputies say the staff at a Rowan County convenience store did the right thing by caring for a child found wandering around inside the business late on Saturday night.

According to the report, workers at the store in the 9100 block of Bringle Ferry Road at High Rock Lake noticed an 8-year-old boy walking around the store at around 10:20 p.m. The workers noticed that there didn’t appear to be an adult with the child.

The child told the workers that he had been fishing with his mother and stepfather but didn’t know where they were. When deputies arrived, they found the stepfather, Geoffrey Calvin Hall, passed out in the backseat of an extended cab pickup truck in the parking lot. Deputies noted in the report that store staff had tried to wake Hall, but were unable to do so. Deputies also said it took them some time to wake Hall. They determined he was suffering from alcohol impairment.

While deputies were with Hall, the child’s mother, Elizabeth Michelle Poston, 31, came walking up from behind the store. Poston was also impaired, according to the report.

Poston and Hall were both charged with child abuse. DSS was notified. A family member came and picked up the child.

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