Grandmother was buying crack when reported missing with 1-year-old, SC cops say
The South Carolina woman who was watching her 1-year-old grandson when they were reported missing Monday night had gone to buy and use drugs, according to the Greenville Police Department.
Cathy Diane Brown, 61, took her grandson, 16-month-old Genesis Shell, with her to buy crack cocaine, which she used while serving as the child’s guardian, police said in an arrest warrant.
The Greenville woman turned off her phone so the little boy’s mother was unable to contact Brown, according to the arrest warrant.
The baby was not put in a car seat, which was left behind along with a diaper bag and bottles when Brown went to buy crack, according to an incident report.
Police said a missing child alert was issued for Genesis just before 9:30 p.m. Around 11 p.m., the baby was found unharmed, according to the news release.
Brown was charged with unlawful neglect of a child, according to police, who said in the news release that her “actions placed the child in unreasonable risk of harm to his life and to his physical and mental health.”
She was taken to Greenville County Detention Center, where she remains behind bars after her bond was set at $10,000, jail records show.
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 4:36 PM.
