A 44-year-old Glenallen woman sits in the Butler County jail after she allegedly abandoned a child in her care over the weekend.
Costalina S. Gray, 44, was charged Monday with the Class D felony of first-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to Missouri Case.net.
According to a press release from the Poplar Bluff Police Department, officers responded to a residence in the 700 block of West Davis Street at 3:02 p.m. Saturday to an infant found abandoned and naked, wrapped only in a small blanket outside the residence.
A neighbor said the infant lived with its parents at the residence, but no one was home at the time the child was found. The infant was transported to Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center for care.
During the investigation, it was determined the child had been left in the care of a grandparent, later found to be Gray.
She was arrested during a traffic stop on Relief Street at 10:24 a.m. Sunday on suspicion of endangering the welfare of a child and possession of amphetamine, in addition to a Stoddard County warrant for non-support and a Wayne County warrant for failure to appear on charges of possession of amphetamine and a traffic offense.
Additionally, Roger Carnell, 69, of Fisk also was arrested during Sunday’s traffic stop on a Mississippi County warrant for possession of a controlled substance.
Both were booked at the Butler County jail, with Gray held on a total of $35,308 bond on all charges and Carnell held on $5,000 bond.
PBPD Chief Mike McClain thanked the neighbor who responded to the child’s cries and immediately provided care.
“With the rapidly falling temperatures the child would certainly have died without this quick response,” McClain said.