Newport News, Va. - Police arrested and charged a Newport News woman with child neglect after a 3-year-old was found alone on Thursday morning just yards from his home.
Someone saw the boy wandering near his 36th street home just after 10 a.m. and reported it to a nearby sheriff's deputy.
Police found the child's home, and made contact with the babysitter, later identified as Telesha Williamson.
Williamson was supposed to be watching the child while his mother was at work, police say. However, she had been sleeping.
Williamson told NewsChannel 3 the boy is her good friend's son. Williamson said when the boy's mother left for work around 7 a.m., she checked on the boy, who was sleeping.
"I laid down to go back to sleep, next thing I know the police are hollering up the stairs asking if somebody was here," said Williamson.
Williamson said the boy figured out how to unlock the back door, and walked toward his older siblings' school bus stop.
"He's never unlocked the door. He's never went outside by himself," said Williamson. "It wasn't like I went to the store or went to the neighbor's house. I was here with him, he wasn't hungry, he wasn't scratched up, he wasn't bruised, none of that. We've never had children services involved with us, we've never had nothing involved with us."
Williamson said she is prepared to fight the charges. She said the boy's mother is not upset. In fact, the boy was under Williamson's care when NewsChannel 3 showed up to interview her Friday afternoon.
