A Roswell woman is facing a reckless conduct charge after police said her 5-year-old son was found wandering around a neighborhood after she left him home alone.
A neighbor found the child walking near Greenhouse Court in Roswell on Thursday, according to an incident report obtained by AJC.com.
“I saw a very, very young, small child standing on the side of the road, almost in the road,” Clay Carter told Channel 2 Action News.
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
Credit: Channel 2 Action News
The incident report said the child was wearing only a T-shirt and underwear. Carter said the child seemed confused and didn’t know where he was.
“I expected within 30 seconds of getting out of the vehicle that the parent would come running over the hill,” he said. “That was not the case at all.”
When the child couldn’t point him in the direction of his home, Carter called police, he told Channel 2.
An officer who was familiar with the child walked him back home and tried to get in touch with his parents, the incident report said. However, when the boy walked back inside the house, the officer realized nobody was home.
Eventually, police found a phone number for the child’s mother, Nicole Reynolds, and she came to the scene from work, according to Roswell police Lt. Noah Caplan.
Reynolds told the officer that when she left for work her brother was home and she thought he would watch the child, the report said. However, her brother had to report to work at 1 p.m., she said. Reynolds told an officer she was going to try to be home by the time her brother left and she wasn’t sure if her sibling knew the child was in the apartment.
“I asked Reynolds why she was not home (and) if she knew her brother left for work at (1 p.m.), but she was unable to provide an explanation,” the police report said. “Rather, she just stated ‘someone was supposed to watch him’ but she could not provide any information on who.”
The officer contacted the Division of Family and Children Services to report the incident. The child was released to Reynolds because there was not another adult available to take custody.
Police have issued a warrant for Reynolds, but she has not been taken into custody. They are allowing her time to secure child care for her son before she turns herself in, the report said.
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