Jul 9, 2013 1 min read

A Canonsburg man accused of abandoning his 8-year-old son at a shopping plaza waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday and will stand trial on charges of child endangerment and disorderly conduct. Nathaniel Engott, 33, of 126 E. Pike St., is accused of leaving the boy near Walmart at Trinity Point, South Strabane Township, June 27. He was scheduled for a hearing before District Judge Jay Weller.

Police were called to the store for a report of a lost child. They paged Engott but got no response. The boy told police he and his father were waiting for a bus to take them back to Canonsburg and he was playing with a new pocketknife. When he looked up, he discovered his father was no longer with him. He went back into Walmart, but could not find him.

It was the second time that day that the boy and Engott were separated. The boy had gone to the service desk about 20 minutes earlier to report he couldn’t find his father, but Engott responded when paged.

Engott remains in the Washington County jail on $10,000 bond and the boy is in the custody of Washington County Children and Youth Services.