The police investigation led them to discover that the woman and the 29-year-old male had left a little girl at home for several hours while they were out harassing people.
“They had left this 4-year-old girl home alone while they decided to go out and do their clowning activities,” Police Chief Tim Styka told WBAY.
Both parents are now charged with child neglect and the 4-year-old has been removed from their home. The woman was also jailed due to a probation violation, Fox 11 reported.
“The child was actually placed outside of the home by Winnebago County Social Services,” Styka said.
“Teenager gets out of the vehicle and says, ‘Can you move so we can drive through?’ At this point the clown presented what turned out to be a real knife and just held it in his hand — didn’t run after the car, didn’t display it like this, just held it,” Ed Slinde of Fox Valley Metro Police told WBAY.
The teen is now charged with disorderly conduct with a deadly weapon.
Earlier in the day, police were also called to nearby Sunset Park over a clown carrying a sledgehammer. The clown was questioned by police, and he told them that the hammer was a plastic prop and that they were playing a game of hide-and-seek.
“We’re very concerned with the public and for these people, that somebody is going to get hurt, and it needs to stop,” Slinde said.
The spooky clown sightings and encounters began in South Carolina in August, and have spread to states across the nation, and to Europe and Australia.
