A woman traveling in a golf cart has been charged with dumping two children at a Circle K service station in The Villages.
April Maxwell, 39, who is homeless, at about 10 p.m. Saturday left the children, ages 13 and 7, with a clerk at the Circle K at 3 LaGrande Blvd on the Historic Side of The Villages, according to an arrest report from the Lady Lake Police Department. A manager at Circle K called police at 6 a.m. Sunday after Maxwell never returned to retrieve the children, who were “very dirty and appeared to be sleep deprived,” according to the report.
A representative of the Department of Children and Families was called to the scene. DCF had been looking for Maxwell for the past week. The two children left at Circle K, as well as a 4-year-old traveling in the golf cart with Maxwell, were taken into custody by DCF.
Maxwell said she left the two children at Circle K and drove to Wawa to put air in the tire of the golf cart. She told police she didn’t think it was dangerous to leave the children at the Circle K.
She was arrested on two counts of child neglect as well as a charge of driving while license suspended. She was booked at the Lake County Jail on $11,000 bond.
