A man was arrested May 6 in Sacramento on suspicion of giving a homeless woman $20 to watch his 7-year-old granddaughter while he allegedly drank at a bar.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the parking lot of a bar on the 5300 block of Auburn Boulevard when a passerby called 911 to report that the suspect—later identified as Jason Warren, 54—was asking people for help in finding his granddaughter.
According to the sheriff’s department, Mr. Warren told people his granddaughter had been kidnapped for human trafficking.
Law enforcement dispatched the sheriff’s helicopter, drones, and K-9 units to the area to help search for her.
About 30 minutes into the operation, the transient woman Mr. Warren allegedly hired heard the public announcements from the helicopter and returned to the bar parking lot with the child.
Mr. Warren then allegedly told deputies he had given an unknown homeless woman $20 to take his granddaughter to a nearby thrift store while he went into the bar for about four hours.
“Deputies quickly obtained video surveillance footage of the woman leaving with the child,” the sheriff’s department posted on Facebook.
The woman allegedly confirmed with deputies that Mr. Warren gave her money to take the child to the thrift store, the sheriff’s department reported. She also reported that Mr. Warren was “highly intoxicated” and she did not think he could care for the child.
The woman said she took the child to her “camp” to get food instead of the thrift store.
Deputies claim they spoke with the child who “corroborated the ordeal,” the sheriff’s department reported.
“The child was not in distress and was medically cleared by Fire Department personnel at the scene as a precaution,” the sheriff’s department said.
Deputies were able to find that the child’s aunt had full custody of her, but asked Mr. Warren to care for the child because she had to go to work. Child Protective Services determined the child was cleared to return home with her aunt, the sheriff’s department said.
Mr. Warren, who has a mailing address in Tampa, Florida, was arrested at 7:45 p.m. Monday by a Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department deputy.
He is being held in lieu of $75,000 bail and charged with one felony count of endangering the life of a child, one misdemeanor count of public intoxication, and an infraction for driving with a suspended license, according to court records.
Mr. Warren is scheduled to appear in court May 8.
