The father of a 2-year-old boy who died by drowning in the Siletz River in March has been charged with child neglect in Lincoln County, court records show.

Aaron Paulsen had custody or control of his son, Dane Paulsen, on March 1, and left the boy unattended long enough for it to pose a danger, prosecutors wrote in the secret indictment.

The boy disappeared that day, launching an 11-day search down the river and across hundreds of square acres of rural Lincoln County surrounding the house where Dane lived with his parents. A volunteer diver found the boy’s body in the Siletz River March 11, about three miles downstream from the home.

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