Shane Englehart: (Alleged) Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire

Shane Englehart, left














Shane Englehart went to work on Father's Day thinking his 2-year-old daughter would be in safe hands with her babysitter-a woman he hired on short notice from the popular classified ads website, Craigslist. He couldn't have been more wrong. The babysitter, known only as "Samantha", apparently had abandoned Englehart's little girl-leaving her in the parking lot of the apartment complex in the scorching 112 degree heat of the Phoenix suburb-Glendale.

Luckily for Englehart's little girl, a good Samaritan by the name of Flavian Janes found the scared little girl and tried to find out who she belonged to. Other good Samaritans called police. The little girl was wearing only one sandal, a dress, and a tiara. The asphalt temperature on a day like that would have been excrutiating on the soles of this little girl's feet (foot).

When police arrived, they attempted to identify the little girl and the the story ran in the media later that evening to attempt to find someone who knew her. By the next morning, news reports stated that Englehart claimed to be the father of the little girl. According to this news report from Fox11Az , here's what happened the night before.

Later that night, a man approached a reporter and photographer with KNXV-TV saying he was the child's father.
The man says he hired a baby sitter from the popular Web site Craigslist, and when he returned home, he found his apartment empty with no sign of the sitter or his daughter.

There was no sign of the mysterious "Samantha". That's because "Samantha" didn't exist. Actually, she does exist, but Englehart left out a few small details. Samantha is a woman he has allegedly known for years, and not someone he hired from Craiglist. And according to the real Samantha, he never asked her to babysit.

When confronted by the police with Samantha's side of the story, Englehart had no choice but to 'fess up--he allegedly left his 2 year-old daughter home alone that evening while he went to work. Of course, he was then arrested on charges of child abuse and false reporting. And his little girl is now in the hands of Child Protective Services.

I realize that good, quality childcare doesn't come cheap, but it's never an excuse to leave your child alone. Especially a two year-old. Your job is never that important. Englehart could have called in sick, as a last resort. Instead his last resort was leaving his child alone. Maybe he feared losing his job. Losing your job vs. potentially burying your dead child.

I know, tough choice.

Sources: Fox 11AZ.com; azfamily.com; yourwestvalley.com