SACRAMENTO, Calif. (TCD) — A 54-year-old man was taken into custody for reportedly paying a homeless woman $20 to take his granddaughter to a thrift store while he went to a bar for several hours.
According to a statement, on Monday, May 6, at 7:45 p.m., the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a woman who said a man was asking for help and saying his granddaughter “had been kidnapped for human trafficking.” Deputies responded to the parking lot of a bar and found Jason Warren “highly intoxicated.”
He spoke with deputies and reportedly said he paid an “unknown homeless woman” $20 that afternoon to walk his 7-year-old granddaughter to a nearby thrift store so he could go drink in the bar. Officials reviewed surveillance footage of the woman walking with the girl and quickly brought in additional resources to help locate the child.
About 30 minutes after the search began, the woman heard alerts from the sheriff’s office helicopter to return the girl to the parking lot. The woman reportedly told deputies she “did not think [Warren] could care for the child” because he was so drunk. She decided to take the girl back to her “camp” for some food.
The girl “corroborated the ordeal” and was checked by paramedics at the scene as a precautionary measure. She was not in medical distress and was not harmed.
According to the statement, the girl’s aunt has full custody, but the aunt asked Warren to look after the child that day because she had to go to work. Warren was arrested for felony child endangerment and other charges.
Sacramento County Jail records show he bonded out May 8.
KTXL-TV reports the sheriff’s office called the woman a “guardian angel” who said the girl “would be safe with me.”
Warren described why he asked the woman to care for his granddaughter. He told KTXL, “I could tell by her character that she seemed like a decent person. I trusted her like I would trust my sister or my cousin.”
Warren also reportedly believes he “didn’t do anything wrong,” adding, “Everything I did I told God about, and I said, ‘It’s your will, God, not my will. Let your will be done.'”
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