Baby offered in trade for food ID'd, safe

Child's mother arrested on unrelated charges

Orange Park police need help to identify this man, who they say was trying to trade a baby for food.

ORANGE PARK, Fla. – A baby and the man who allegedly offered to trade the child for food over the weekend have been identified and the infant's mother is in custody on unrelated charges, WJXT-TV reports.

Orange Park police say the man and baby were shown in surveillance photos going door to door Saturday night at the Orange Park Rodeway Inn off Park Avenue near Interstate 295 offering to trade the boy for something to eat.

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Police say they managed to identify the man and baby through tips from the community and a review of reports from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and FDLE files and found the boy in his mother's custody.

"As no charges have yet been filed, we cannot release the name and identity of the man involved, though it appears the infant was never in danger," Orange Park police Detective Garry Briggs said in a statement Tuesday morning.

Duval County Sheriff's Office booking photo of Jaime Rathje

Police said the child's mother, 32-year-old Jaime Rathje (pictured right), was arrested at a Jacksonville motel on an unrelated  misdemeanor charge and booked into the Duval County jail. 

Briggs said it would be up to the state attorney's office to determine charged against the man.

WJXT-TV reports the baby boy shown in the surveillance photo and a sibling are in DCF custody. 


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