TEXARKANA -- A Miller County woman whose 3-year-old grandson was found wandering along a busy highway wearing only a diaper was sentenced this week to five years of probation for child endangerment.
Trudy Dooley, 51, was supposed to be watching the boy May 4, 2014, when a couple found him sitting on the side of U.S. 71 south about 10 a.m., according to a probable-cause affidavit.
The woman who picked up the child told a Miller County sheriff's office investigator that the boy pointed to a nearby house when asked where he lived. The woman told detectives she carried the boy to the house and that when she got close to the front door, a man stepped out, yelled and took the child away. The couple then drove to a nearby convenience store and dialed 911.
When deputies went to the house that morning, their knocks went unanswered. Dooley later admitted she was inside but feared she would be arrested if she opened the door.
That afternoon, a Miller County sheriff's investigator and a caseworker with the state's Children and Family Services Division went to the house. Dooley attempted to convince them that the boy with her was not the one found that morning on the busy roadway, according to the affidavit.
When the woman who carried the baby home was shown a cellphone photo of the child in Dooley's care, she said, "That's him, 100 percent," according to the affidavit.
Dooley eventually admitted she fell asleep while watching the boy for her daughter, who was at work. Dooley underwent a drug test at the request of the child-welfare agency and tested positive for marijuana, methamphetamine, amphetamine and benzodiazepenes, according to the affidavit.
Dooley's daughter tested negative for illicit or prescription drugs. She agreed not to leave her son in Dooley's care as part of a plan she entered with the agency, which allowed her to maintain custody of her son.
Metro on 05/28/2016