Lexington County deputies have arrested a Gaston woman accused of leaving a 2-year-old in her care home alone in a dirty diaper for more than 2 hours Tuesday.
Tabitha Shea Jones, 21, is charged with unlawful neglect of a child by a legal custodian and possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute. She was arrested after deputies found the toddler locked in a bedroom at her home outside Gaston.
Deputies from the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department went to the home about 1:15 p.m. Tuesday to serve an arrest warrant to Jones, who was wanted for driving with a suspended license. When they got there, they smelled what they believed was marijuana and went inside to see if Jones was there.
As deputies searched, they found a bedroom that was locked from the outside. They opened the door and the 2-year-old boy walked out. A bowl of cereal was on the floor in the bedroom, but no one else was in the house, deputies said.
Later, narcotics agents executed a search warrant in the home and seized more than 128 grams of marijuana from the home along with a 2-foot-long water pipe thought to be used to smoke marijuana.
The child was placed in state Department of Social Services custody, deputies said. Jones is being held at the Lexington County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing.
Two men, 22-year-old Brandon Lee Perryman and 23-year-old John David Swygert, were arrested after the search and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.
