An area woman has been arrested for the second time in six months for child neglect.
Jamie Hardesty, 33, of Poplar Bluff was arrested Tuesday on abuse/neglect charges.
Arrested on identical charges was Jesse Schaeding, 35, also of Poplar Bluff.
According to the report, police responded to a business in the 700 block of East Pine Street in reference to an unattended juvenile. Officers determined the juvenile was too young to be unsupervised. The child had reportedly arrived at the store unattended, exited the store, and was later picked up by an adult who walked the juvenile to a nearby residence. Officers located the juvenile and the juvenile’s parents at their residence.
It was determined by officers Tuesday that the juvenile “had wandered off during outdoor activities with their parents.”
An undisclosed amount of time later, Tuesday, officers were called back to the same business, in reference to the same juvenile, who had returned unattended.
According to the report, the juvenile was again returned to the residence where their parents lived, and it was determined that the juvenile had left the residence without the parents being aware. Both Hardesty and Schaeding were taken into custody. Charges are being sought through the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.
A similar situation occurred at 12:11 a.m. April 12. At that time, police reported a male child, age 5, was found walking on West Pine Street alone. According to the probable cause affidavit, the child was returned home and Hardesty was questioned by officers. She allegedly stated the child must have slipped out through the window, due to the front and back doors being locked. The officer doubted a small child could unlock the window, crawl through the opening and then shut the window behind him due to the required height and strength needed to perform such tasks.
Hardesty was taken into custody, and was subsequently charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. She is currently scheduled to appear in court for plea/trial setting for that charge, Thursday, Oct. 10.
A report of Tuesday’s incident stated there were multiple juveniles in the home and they were left in the care of a family member, at the discretion of Social Services.