Parents Abandoned Their Baby at Courthouse, Then Dad Told Cops, 'They Were Going to Take Him Anyway': Police By Sean Neumann

A Missouri couple left their infant son behind at a courthouse after the mother failed a drug test and officials informed them they couldn’t continue caring for the child together.

“The way I look at it, they were going to take him anyway,” the father, Jeremy Lamp, told police after he and the mother, Jessica Lamp, were arrested, according to an officer from the Chillicothe Police Department’s probable cause statement obtained by PEOPLE.

Police officers from Chillicothe, 90 miles northeast of Kansas City, responded to a call from the Livingston County courthouse on July 15 after the couple had already left their infant son behind.

Jeremy, 36, and Jessica, 31, had both come to the courthouse for a mandatory drug screening and brought their son with them, according to the probable cause statement.

Jeremy’s drug test came back negative, but Jessica’s came back positive for methamphetamine, according to police. The couple was told by an official from the county’s Children’s Division that for the safety of their son, they could either have Jessica move out of the house, have Jeremy and his infant son move out of the house, or have the child stay with a relative.

The couple “denied” the options, according to police. Jeremy then pushed the infant’s car seat towards a county official, who told the couple they “couldn’t leave the baby with them,” police said.

However, the couple did leave their infant son behind without any clothes, food, or other care, the Livingston Police probable cause statement said.

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Both Jeremy and Jessica were arrested roughly an hour later at the Hedrick Medical Center, where the father told police he figured he would leave the child at the courthouse since they “were going to take him anyway.”

Court records reviewed by PEOPLE show that Jeremy and Jessica were both charged with child neglect and are due in court on July 21.