SJCO: Kids suffered insect bites, scrapes while mother, man hid

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Additional felony child abuse charges were filed against a man and woman who were arrested after a home invasion Thursday night.

Police say they were located at a home on Tirana Avenue late Friday morning, near the home they lived in on Juanita Avenue. Deputies say Andrew Cherry and Lee Ann Mosher broke into a home on Isom Avenue and fired at the people inside.

Late Friday, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office filed felony child abuse charges. They accuse Cherry and Mosher of exposing Mosher’s two children, a 4-year-old boy and a 10-month girl, to outdoor conditions while eluding authorities. SJCO said the children had sustained multiple insect bites as well as small scrapes when Cherry and Mosher fled from their  Juanita Avenue home late Thursday.

The children were taken to Flagler Hospital where they were treated and released to DCF custody.

Police first said the couple was on the run with three children but one of them was found safe by deputies Friday morning. Deputies say a woman they believe to have been Mosher knocked on the door asking for help getting her car out of a ditch.

Authorities say a 55-year-old man walked outside to help and that’s when a man wearing a mask they believe to have been Cherry had a gun. The man ran and deputies say two shots were fired before the two suspects fled.

Action News Jax spoke with Richard Strahan, a neighbor of Cherry and Mosher, about the incident and police swarming his block.

“Well here’s the thing. At first I was kind of scared but when they said they had the place surrounded and I saw the gates open and figured whoever it was, they was gone,” Strahan said.

Deputies found the Mustang that Cherry and Mosher were driving Friday morning.

WJAX