Lakeville boy ditched by dad reportedly thriving in new family

Eleven-year-old Sebastian Cross is living with his aunt and visiting with his long-lost mother. His dad, Steven Cross (pictured), is facing charges of child neglect after allegedly abandoning the boy and telling him to go live with a friend's family. Cross left a note saying he couldn't find a job and the house was about to be repossessed.

Author:: BMTN Staff
Updated:: Mar 8, 2018
Original:: Sep 29, 2011

Eleven-year-old Sebastian Cross is living with his aunt and visiting with his long-lost mother. His dad, Steven Cross (pictured), is facing charges of child neglect after allegedly abandoning the boy and telling him to go live with a friend's family. Cross left a note saying he couldn't find a job and the house was about to be repossessed.

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Steven Cross has posted bail so he can start fulfilling the court-ordered requirements to see his son again. Cross left a note for his son saying he couldn’t find a job and that their home would soon be repossessed, and that the boy should go live with a friend’s family. He then fled to California.

Steven Cross was convicted in January of child neglect for abandoning his 11-year-old boy before fleeing to California. WCCO reports the boy's mother will also start spending time with her son.

A year after being abandoned by his father, a 12-year-old Lakeville boy on Thursday was finally reunited privately with his runaway dad. "I apologized to him," said Steven Cross, who left his son, Sebastian, last year as the pair was going to lose their Lakeville home.

His attorney says financial problems had Steven Cross at the end of his rope when he left a note telling his 11-year-old son to stay with nearby friends who were like family. Prosecutors say Cross is guilty of child neglect.

The Pioneer Press reports the 11-year-old says he is concerned he'll lose contact with his extended family if he's reunited with his parents. Steven Cross was convicted of child neglect after he fled to California last summer. His mother had lost rights to visit her son in 2002.

The Lakeville man convicted of abandoning his 11-year-old son last summer was sentenced to probation up to two years Wednesday and must pay more than $2,500 in restitution. A Dakota County jury found 60-year-old Steven Cross guilty of neglect, a gross misdemeanor, for leaving his son and fleeing to California in July of 2011. If Cross violates his probation, KARE 11 reports he could be sent to jail for a year.

The Star Tribune reports a jury has found Steven Alexander Cross guilty of a gross misdemeanor. The paper says he'll most likely see two years of probation. Cross, an architect who said he couldn't find work and was about to lose his home, apparently left his 11-year-old son behind and fled to California.

Steven Alexander Cross tells the Pioneer Press he was buried in bills and had drained his savings when he left a note for his son and left for California. "I never thought I'd broken the law," he said.

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