MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — A Texas man was arrested Thursday in Miami Beach after police said his 12-year-old foster son, who has autism, was found running through traffic wearing only a white T-shirt and his underwear while the child’s younger sibling remained unattended in a hotel room.

According to an arrest report from the Miami Beach Police Department, Francisco Javier Lara, 55, who is a teacher from Austin, Texas, was arrested on two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm.

Police said officers responded to reports of a child running in and out of traffic near 33rd Street and Pinetree Drive at about 12:15 p.m.

Officers located the pre-teen running southbound before he entered a home in the 3000 block of Pinetree Drive, where officers were able to safely secure him, authorities said.

Investigators said the boy was unable to provide much information but was able to give officers a phone number belonging to his foster father. The child was then taken to the Miami Beach Police Department while officers worked to locate his caregiver.

Using police databases and cellphone location information, detectives traced the number to Lara and determined he was staying at the Catalina Hotel on Collins Avenue, the arrest report stated.

According to the report, when detectives knocked on the hotel room door, Lara eventually answered and appeared unaware that one of the children was missing until detectives asked about his foster son’s whereabouts.

“Utilizing compassion and patience, we were able to get his name and a phone number which allowed out detectives to get a location of where his father was at,” Miami Beach Police Detective Christopher Bess told Local 10’s Rosh Lowe.

The report states that officers detected a strong odor of alcohol on Lara’s breath. When asked what time it was, he reportedly told detectives he believed it was around 7 a.m., although it was approximately 2 p.m.

Inside the hotel room, detectives also found the child’s 10-year-old nonverbal foster brother, who also has autism, authorities said.

The boy was taken to the police station along with his brother, where victim advocates provided both children with food and shoes, the report stated.

According to authorities, during a post-Miranda interview, Lara told detectives he had traveled to Miami Beach from Texas with his two foster children for a vacation and planned to return home with them Friday.

Police said Lara claimed that he had put the children to bed around 9 p.m. on Wednesday before leaving the hotel room around midnight to eat at a nearby Mexican restaurant and have several alcoholic drinks. He told detectives he consumed four to five drinks at the restaurant before going to another bar, where he had two additional alcoholic beverages, the report stated.

According to the report, Lara told investigators he returned to the hotel around 4 a.m., found both children asleep and then “passed out,” remembering nothing else until police knocked on his hotel room door later that day.

However, detectives said hotel surveillance video showed Lara returning to the hotel at 5:10 a.m., leaving again at 9:03 a.m., and returning once more at 10:29 a.m. Police said Lara told investigators he had no recollection of leaving the room again and admitted it was his fault for drinking too much and blacking out.

According to the report, surveillance footage captured the eldest boy leaving the hotel alone while Lara was out before running north on Collins Avenue.

A review of employment records confirmed Lara worked as an elementary school teacher for Miami-Dade County Public Schools last year. He now lives in Texas and was visiting Miami Beach on vacation, authorities said.

Police confirmed that both boys were handed over to the Florida Department of Children and Families as Lara was taken into custody.

As of Friday afternoon, Lara was being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,000 bond.

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