JACKSON Co., FL (WTXL) - After bringing in canine units to help search for a missing child, deputies say they discovered that the child was actually safe with its great-aunt, and the mother that reported the child missing was on drugs.
Roxie Nicholas was arrested on Tuesday by the Jackson County Sheriff's Office for giving a false report to law enforcement officers and for possession of a controlled substance without a prescription.
Sheriff's deputies say Nicholas told them she had picked up the child from school and had last seen the 5 year-old playing near Turners Landing Road and Highway 90 while she was in her car.
Canines and deputies searched the area for the child but officers say Nicholas changed her story, saying her mother picked up the child from school. She later changed her story again, telling deputies she had gotten the child from her mother's house.
Deputies got in contact with the child's great-aunt and grandmother who met them at a nearby location with the child. They told deputies the grandmother had picked the child up from school and met with the great-aunt who took the child shopping.
Both women told deputies that Nicholas knew the child had been retrieved by them from school and was safe.
A search of Nicholas's vehicle uncovered a prescription bottle for another person with several pills of lorazepam in it. Nicholas was subsequently charged and arrested.
