A Griffin woman is accused of leaving her baby outside in the rain while she tried to fraudulently cash a check.
Omisha Meshon-Shontey Sands, 21, was arrested Friday after running from Sky Check Cashing at 701 West Taylor Street, where she and an accomplice, 18-year-old Tionna Pugh, allegedly tried to cash a fake check.
As Sands was being taken into custody, she said two men took her 7-month-old, Griffin police said in a news release.
She claimed she left the baby in a vehicle with the men, and they sped off with the child as she ran from the store. Sands and Pugh said they didn’t know the identity of either man, according to the release.
However, a hotel clerk at a nearby Comfort Inn and Suites called police after finding the baby abandoned behind the hotel, police said. The child was found strapped into a car seat while sitting in the rain.
Emergency officials checked the baby for injuries and health concerns before the child was turned over to the Division of Family and Children Services, according to the release.
Sands was charged with second-degree forgery, cruelty to children, reckless conduct and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, Spalding County Jail records show. Pugh faces a charge of second-degree forgery.
In 2017, Sands was wanted on felony burglary charges in connection with burglaries at vacant homes in Milton, AJC.com previously reported.
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She was arrested and eventually negotiated a guilty plea for criminal trespass, theft by receiving and theft by deception charges in September 2018, according to Fulton County court records. Her sentence was commuted to her time served in jail, and she was given four years of probation.
As of Tuesday night, Sands remained in jail in lieu of $5,806 bond, records show.
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