A Class C felony child neglect charge was dismissed on Thursday against Cortez Jory Osborne, 24, of Bozeman, Mont., who had been accused of leaving a 3-year-old boy unattended in a car in a parking lot during the North Dakota State Fair in July. The charge was dismissed because the child is not his son and he was not responsible for the boy’s welfare.

Osborne’s girlfriend, Tatiyana Elice Brown, 24, of Manitoba pleaded guilty to Class C felony child neglect in district court in Minot last month and received a deferred imposition of sentence. The charge against her will be dismissed if she complies with all terms and conditions.

According to court records, a witness called police when Osborne left and failed to return to the vehicle. An officer searched the car and found the child sleeping in the vehicle. Ward County Social Services was called to come to pick up the boy. A search of the vehicle turned up marijuana in a clear glass container in the center console and various containers of alcoholic beverages on the passenger side floor and Brown’s Manitoba ID card.

Police located Brown and Osborne about an hour later on the midway of the fairgrounds. The couple had a 6-year-old girl with them. Brown told law enforcement that the little boy had been so tired that Osborne took him back to their vehicle to let him sleep there since they did not have a stroller with them. She said he had not been alone in the vehicle for very long. A Ward County sheriff’s deputy told her that the boy had been left alone in the car for about an hour and a half. By the time the couple and the 6-year-old were located, it was after midnight.