Bond has been set at $5,000 in Marion County Court for a 45-year-old Centralia man who was arrested after allegedly abandoning his 11-year-old step-son at the Brick Hill and Gragg Street Road on Tuesday.
William McClanahan of South Elm was charged with aggravated domestic battery and endangering the life of a child. The aggravated domestic battery charge accuses McClanahan of spanking the child with a long thin piece of wood hard enough to cause bruising. The endangerment charge accused McClanahan of dropping off the child at the side of the road two miles from his home with insufficient clothing.
A mail carrier saw the child being left out of a car and asked him if he was okay. The 11-year-old said he was homeless and he wasn’t wanted anymore. Centralia Police took in the child and fed him after he said he hadn’t eaten in several days. The Illinois Department of Family Services took the boy and his 12-year-old brother into protective custody.
In a call to Centralia Police, McClanahan reportedly claimed the boy was planning to run away anyway.
If released on bond, McClanahan was ordered to have no contact with the victim. The public defender was appointed to represent him.
