Man found stumbling in motel parking lot charged with child abandonment

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SOUTH JORDAN — A man accused of becoming intoxicated to the point he could not care for his daughter has been charged with child abandonment.

Paul Davis Richardson, 36, of Clearfield, was charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with the third-degree felony. He was also charged with endangering a child, also a third-degree felony; and two counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor.

On June 14, police were called to a motel near 10600 S. Frontage Road in South Jordan on a report of a possible child neglect case, according to charging documents. A front desk employee had Richardson’s 12-year-old daughter with her due to Richardson’s “high level of intoxication,” the charges state.

The young girl told police that their hotel room was a mess, that her father had also gotten intoxicated the night before when her friend was sleeping over and took off his pants and underwear in front of them, and that Richardson’s bedding was in the bathroom because he had urinated on it, the charges state.

Police found Richardson stumbling in the parking lot.

“I went and made contact with Paul and observed him standing in the doorway to the hotel trying to get in, he had urinated on himself and was swaying severely trying to open the door. Another officer approached and he fell back approximately 10 feet almost falling. I had him sit down and began asking him questions. He was slurring his words to the point I could barely understand what he was saying,” police stated in their affidavit. “Paul believed he was in Clearfield and was clearly disoriented about his surroundings picking at the ground and constantly reaching for items that weren’t there.”

Police then went to Richardson’s hotel room and found it to be in “disarray” and observed an empty box of wine and unmarked pills, the charges state. The daughter told detectives that her father takes Ambien with a large amount of wine daily, according to court documents.

She also said Richardson “would eat all the food they would buy and she had to call her biological mother to order a pizza,” the charges state, and that she “will often have to call her biological mother to send her food so she doesn't go hungry while in Richardson’s care.”

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