Orlando Waitress Flavaine Carvalho Hailed As Hero For Helping Abused Boy

(CBSMiami) – An Orlando waitress is being hailed a hero after helping a boy escape from a possibly abusive home.

Flavaine Carvalho was working at Mrs. Potato Restaurant on New Year’s Day when she noticed a family walk in: a man, woman, 11-year-old boy, and four-year-old girl. The boy had bruises on his face and arms.

After they ordered food, Carvalho says the man, identified as Timothy Wilson II, would not allow the boy to order anything.

Carvalho wrote a sign asking if he was okay or needed help. She said she stood behind the adults so they couldn’t see her.

“A couple of minutes later I wrote another sign asking him if he needs help and this is when he nodded yes and make a movement with his hands like he didn’t know what to do. That’s when I called 9-1-1 and a couple of minutes later the police came and took over the situation in an amazing way.”

Police arrested Wilson on one count of 3rd-degree child abuse.

Police say additional interviews with the boy revealed other mistreatment. They say he told them he’d been hung upside down from a door and beaten with a broom. He told police he was punished by not being given food.

Wilson was arrested a second time on January 6 and charged with multiple counts of aggravated child abuse and child neglect. The boy’s mother Kristen Swann was also arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect.