PEARL, MS (Mississippi News Now) -
It was a routine Friday afternoon at Claudia's Daycare Center until a woman came in with her 11-month old child and left without the baby.
Employees called police and after checking the child's health, Pearl firemen placed the baby in a child seat. He then was turned over to officials with the Department of Human Services.
The owner of the child care center says the woman seemed disoriented. "She was just sitting there and I said, can I help you, can I help you and she still would not answer me. And she kept holding her head down," said Claudia Sears.
22-year-old Tabitha Gordy has had previous run-ins with lawmen. She was facing petty larceny charges before she abandoned her infant. Her last know address is Brandon but authorities say she'd been living in a hotel for the past few days.
When she left the child, she told daycare workers she had to go outside a minute. "She kissed him on his forehead and left and we knew when she kissed him that she would not, she was leaving him," said Sears.
Sears says maybe the mother was trying to leave her child in good hands. "She told my husband she new this was a day care, so I guess she felt like she knew her baby would be cared," said the owner of the child care center.
Gordy now faces a list of new charges. "I can tell you, we're charging her, at this moment, with driving under the influence, open container, false information to a police officer, identity information, and child abandonment, said Lt. Butch Townsend with the Pearl Police Department.
The child abandonment charge carries a $50,000 bond on it. Gordy will appear in Pearl City Court on Thursday. She is being held at the Rankin County jail.
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