CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.- Police arrested a Clarksville mother after her son went missing overnight Sunday.
12-year-old Joseph Huffman went missing around 8 o'clock Sunday night. Donna Huffman did not call police until after 1 a.m. Huffman said she waited because her son has done this seven times before, and she and his case worker had a plan.
"To call him first, don't call the police, he would deal with the police. So, that's why I didn't call," Huffman explained.
After the boy was missing for five hours, the decision was made to call Clarksville Police. A large group of emergency responders came to the Huffman's Cloud Drive home.
"We had multiple agencies out there," said Officer Natalie Hall. "Some of the neighbors in the area also assisted."
At daylight Monday the decision was made to bring in a Bloodhound dog from the Henry County Sheriff's Office.
"They had him get a scent of something that belonged to the boy, and within 30 minutes of the deployment the Bloodhound was taping at the kid," Hall said.
Huffman was about a two-mile drive from his home.
"He was around a haystack, somewhere close to one of the houses on Gholson Road. They went through a wooded area, they went through a creek," according to Hall.
Soon after the boy was found, Clarksville Police went to his home and arrested his mother.
"They wouldn't tell me what I am being arrested for. I tell them I can walk up there, please don't do this, my children are right there, didn't matter," Huffman said. "They didn't tell me until I got to the police station. I got arrested for neglect."
The arrest affidavit stated Huffman's son has the mentality of a 6-year-old. That is something she denied. She said he does suffer from severe behavioral issues.
The document also stated when police arrived early Sunday morning Huffman was not home. She left to go shopping at Walmart.
"I have five other children in my home, who were starving, so I had to go get them something to eat," Huffman explained.
She had told officers she went to the store to by night vision goggles. That was not true.
Huffman was booked into the Montgomery County Jail, and her bond was set at $25,000. She told NewsChannel 5 she used her mortgage money to get out of jail.
