TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee mother has been arrested for child neglect after her 3-year-old child wandered away from home.
According to court documents, the child was found alone on Wednesday at a Dollar General store on Whittaker Road, saying that she was "looking for daddy."
When deputies arrived, they found the child with another woman who was familiar with the child's mother, Crystal Weaber, 22.
She told police that she went to the home were the 3-year-old and her mother live, but was told by a neighbor that the little girl was at the Dollar General.
An arrest report noted that the child was "in good spirits; however, she appeared dirty, had dried food and dirt around her mouth and had several scrapes on her legs," which the deputy documented with photos.
The woman led the deputy to the home but when they arrived they found that the front door was unlocked, no lights were on, and no one was present in the home.
A deputy wrote that "the interior of the residence was dirty and cluttered," and didn't see any food that was accessible to the child.
While they were there the woman with the deputy tried several times to call the child's mother, but ended up getting into contact with a roommate at the residence.
According to the arrest report, the roommate told police that before he left the home, he made sure the front and back doors were locked. When he left, he said he was unsure of who was in the home but asserted that Weaber had not left the child in his care.
As the deputy continued investigating, Weaber walked up to the home.
Weaber told the deputy that she had left the house around midnight on Wednesday, walked to the Dollar General, and left in a strange vehicle, saying it was "like an Uber but it wasn't an Uber."
When asked if anyone know she was leaving she responded, "I didn't know I was leaving." She told them that she "got stuck at a friend's house on Pensacola St," and could not get home.
The deputy noted in the report that while Weaber may have been "stranded", she admitted to having her cellphone with her the entire time while she was gone.
The report says that during the 17 hours Weaber was gone, she didn't check on her child or tell anyone that her child was home.
The deputy writes that it was entirely feasible that the roommate was the last person to leave the house, meaning the 3-year-old would have been home alone from 8:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.
When asked if she uses drugs, Weaber told police that she smokes marijuana and drinks alcohol.
Due to the information gathered by the deputy, Weaber was arrested for child neglect.
