Police: 4-Year-Old Found Wandering Alone After Grandmother Left To Get High
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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A grandmother is facing charges for allegedly leaving her 4-year-old granddaughter home alone while she went to get high and meet a friend.
According to a criminal complaint, a woman told police she was driving to work around 7:30 a.m. Friday when she saw a 4-year-old child walking by herself on Montezuma Street at Manning Street.
The woman said the child flagged her down and told the woman she was staying at a home in the 1300 block of Pointview Street. The woman drove the child to the home and knocked on the door several times, but no one answered. The woman then drove the child to her day care center on Lincoln Avenue and called 911.
The child told officers when she woke up, she realized no one was home, so she left through the basement door and flagged down the woman as she drove past.
Police say the child told them her grandmother Selina Sapps, 55, lives in the house and was watching her.
Officers knocked on the door of the home, but no one answered. They then entered the home through the basement door and did not find anyone inside.
Sapps returned to the home around 8:30 a.m. while officers were still at the scene.
The criminal complaint says Sapps told police that she had gone to East Liberty to get high and meet a friend, but her 21-year-old friend named "Teria" was supposed to be watching the child. Sapps said she didn't know Teria's last name or phone number and had only known her for a few months.
Sapps claimed she told Teria she would be back to take the child to school.
Police say they were unable to contact or locate Teria.
Sapps was arrested and sent to the Allegheny County Jail. She's facing charges of endangering the welfare of a child.
The child was released to the custody of her mother.
