Woman accused of leaving baby on father’s doorstep in the middle of the night: ‘IDC. Call CPS on me’
WACO, Texas (KWTX/Gray News) – An arrest warrant alleges a Texas woman left a baby in a car seat outside the child’s father’s apartment door in the middle of the night after sending the father a text message stating, “IDC. Call CPS on me. Get your kid, bro.”
Ashley Marie Bailey, 26, is charged with abandoning-endangering a child without intent to return, a third-degree felony.
Waco police officers were dispatched to the University Terrace Apartments in the early morning hours last Wednesday, where they met with the baby girl’s presumptive father and presumptive grandmother.
The father told police he received a text message from Bailey, stating, “come and get your baby … (she) is at the door. Bye. Talk to you tomorrow.”
According to the arrest warrant, further text messages sent by Bailey read, “IDC (I don’t care). Call CPS (Child Protective Services) on me. Get your kid, bro” and “IDC anymore. Hope you get her or someone else is going to her so it’s going to be bad.”
The father told police that when he opened his front door, he found his daughter alone outside in her car seat, the warrant states.
According to the father, Bailey texted him to let him know she left the baby outside at about 2:04 a.m. The father told police he did not see the text messages until about 2:45 a.m., meaning the girl was outside in the summer heat for more than 40 minutes.
In addition to the other text messages, police say they saw several in which Bailey was “begging” the baby’s father to come open the door to get the girl.
Bailey’s relationship to the baby was not clarified in the arrest warrant affidavit. The affidavit also failed to clarify why the girl was with her.
When police went to Bailey’s residence in Hewitt, she was allegedly drinking. She was arrested and taken to the McLennan County Jail, where she was being held on a $5,000 bond.
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Mom arrested after son was reported walking alone
The 41-year-old was arrested and charged with reckless conduct.
ByGMA Team
2:09
Mom arrested after boy walks to town aloneBrittany Patterson was charged with reckless conduct after deputies said her 10-year-old son walked less than a mile to a store from their north Georgia home.
Courtesy of Fannin County Sheriff’s Office
A mom in Georgia is speaking out about being arrested for reckless conduct after her then-10-year-old son was found walking alone.
Brittany Patterson, 41, was arrested by deputies on Oct. 30 after a witness reported “a juvenile in the roadway” who had gone into and left a nearby Dollar General store, according to a Fannin County Sheriff’s Office report.
Patterson’s son, Soren, now 11, was later found by deputies around one mile from the family’s home. Patterson had left Soren to take another one of her children to a doctor’s appointment and didn’t report him missing, according to the report.
In the state, neglect by a parent can be defined as a “failure to provide a child with adequate supervision necessary for such child’s well-being,” according to a guideline.
Patterson told ABC News’ Andrea Fujii in an interview Friday that she had been annoyed Soren didn’t tell her where he was going, but didn’t think he was in any danger.
“I wasn’t panicking or concerned because it’s just a short walk from our house. He knows how to get home,” Patterson said.
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In bodycam footage released by the sheriff’s office, Patterson can be seen asking a deputy, “What am I under arrest for?”
“For reckless endangerment,” the deputy replied.
“And how was I recklessly endangering my child?” Patterson asked, before another deputy responded, “We’re not talking about it.”
The deputies then handcuffed the mom.
During the arrest, Patterson also said to one of the deputies, “Last time I checked, it wasn’t illegal for a kid to walk to the store.”
But the deputy replied, “It is when they’re 10 years old.”
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The arrest warrant claimed Patterson “willingly and knowingly did endanger the bodily safety of her juvenile son.”
In an interview with ABC News, Patterson’s lawyer David Delugas questioned the charge she is facing.
“Our criminal justice system is built on the fact that you did something or you were negligent. You did something criminally negligent. So what is it she did?” DeLugas said.
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Authorities said they would drop the charge against Patterson if she signs a safety plan that involves the use of a GPS tracker on her son’s phone but Patterson told ABC News she is refusing to sign it.
“I just felt like I couldn’t sign that and that in doing so, would be agreeing that there was something unsafe about my home or something unsafe about my parental decisions and I just don’t believe that,” Patterson said.
Patterson, who is currently out on bail, faces up to 1 year in jail with the reckless conduct charge.
Father accused of leaving children on dark doorstep
Seth Faz, 24, charged with endangering child
SAN ANTONIO – Police arrested a man accused of leaving his children on a relative’s doorstep because he did not want to care for them.
Seth Faz, 24, is charged with endangering a child.
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According to an arrest affidavit, Faz’s estranged wife asked him to babysit their 1- and 3-year-old children Sunday evening while she went to work because their regular babysitter was unavailable.
Several hours after the mother left the children with Faz, police say he drove them to their disabled great-grandmother’s house and knocked on the door asking her to watch the kids.
She said through the door that she could not care for the children. That’s when Faz left the children on the doorstep alone in the dark, according to the affidavit.
Their great-grandmother did not realize the children were left outside until she heard their cries and knocking about 15 minutes later.
