ELGIN, S.C. (AP) – The mother of a 4-year-old boy found wandering alone on a highway in Elgin has been arrested.
Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews tells local media 23-year-old Taquanna Thomas was arrested Monday and charged with unlawful neglect of a child.
Matthews says a driver saw the child around 11 p.m. Sunday walking alone on US-1. The boy was later found by an off-duty officer.
Deputies found that Thomas was at a fire department trying to find her son. She says she was driving around trying to get her son to fall asleep, became sleepy herself, pulled off the road and fell asleep. She later woke up and found that her son was gone.
The boy is in the custody of the Department of Social Services.
It’s unclear if Thomas has an attorney.