A man in California was taken into custody earlier this week for putting a 7-year-old girl in danger after compensating a homeless lady $20 to look after her while he intoxicated himself at a bar.
54-year-old Jason Warren later mentioned to a journalist that the woman appeared to be respectable. KTXL reported.
Sheriff’s deputies in Sacramento County stated they were summoned to a bar's parking lot just before 8 p.m. on Monday after a passerby indicated that Warren was seeking help as his 7-year-old granddaughter had apparently been abducted for human trafficking. Deputies reached out to Warren and confirmed that he was severely intoxicated.
Warren informed the deputies that he had given an unidentified woman $20 to take the girl to a nearby thrift store while he visited a bar — around four hours earlier. He could not locate them upon leaving.
Deputies found surveillance footage showing the woman leaving the area with the young girl and initiated a search involving a helicopter, drones, and K9s. The woman heard announcements from the helicopter and returned to the parking lot with the girl about 30 minutes later.
She informed deputies that Warren was heavily intoxicated when he handed her the $20 and that she doubted his ability to care for the child. She claimed she took the girl to her shelter for food.
The girl collaborated the woman’s statement and showed no signs of distress. Medical professionals examined her, and she was returned to her aunt, who had full custody of the child and had requested Warren to look after her while she went to work.
KTXL identified the woman as Lauren Jope, who told the station she was confused at first.
“I was like, ‘Okay that’s a big thing … you don’t know who I am,’ but I knew that she would be safe with me,” Jope said.
“She wasn’t scared at all and it seemed like maybe something that had maybe happened before,” she said.
Sgt. Amar Gandhi from the sheriff’s office told KTXL that Jope had been “a guardian angel.”
Meanwhile, Warren, stated from jail that he didn’t think he’d done anything wrong and would do it again.
“She was about 28 to 30 years old,” Warren said. “I knew, 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 seemed surprised when told by a reporter he’d been in the bar for four hours. He claimed he had car trouble and went into the bar to call for help because his cell phone battery was dead.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “Everything I did I told God about and I said, ‘It’s your will God, not my will. Let your will be done.’”
Warren was given a $75,000 bond and released on Wednesday. He is due in court again on May 29, jail records show.
[Featured image: KTXL screenshot]