Boy, 4, found with beer, stolen gifts

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Authorities in Tennessee said a 4-year-old boy apparently broke out of his home, obtained beer and broke into a neighbor's house to steal Christmas presents.

The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office said Hayden Wright, 4, was found wandering the streets of his Chattanooga neighborhood while wearing a little girl's dress and drinking a beer at 1:45 a.m. Tuesday, WTVC-TV, Chattanooga, reported Thursday.

Investigators said the boy, who was taken by police to a hospital to have his stomach pumped, apparently escaped his home by breaking a child-safety device on the doorknob.

"He runs away trying to find his father," said the boy's mother, April Wright, 21. "He wants to get in trouble so he can go to jail because that's where his daddy is."

Wright said the boy took the beer from a cooler behind her house.

"He got it out of my father's cooler in the back and how he got it open I don't understand because it was one of those tab beers," she said.

The sheriff's office said Hayden entered a neighbor's unlocked house and took five wrapped Christmas presents, including the dress he was wearing when authorities found him.

Wright said she met with child protective services and was told she will not face a challenge for custody of the boy.