Woman arrested after security officer notifies police child wandering apartment
OCALA FL January 2 2020
A 26-year-old Ocala woman was arrested earlier this week on child neglect and burglary charges after police say she left children ages 1, 5 and 6 alone in an apartment.
Shakeria Carter, who was booked into the Marion County Jail on Sunday, was already under investigation by state officials in connection with a neglect allegation, according to an Ocala Police Department arrest report.
On Friday, OPD Officer Denise Drake went to Berkeley Pointe Apartments on Northeast Seventh Street to investigate a complaint about children being left alone in an apartment.
A security guard told the officer he had seen a 6-year-old wandering around the complex a few times and, in the past, had seen one of the kids in the laundry room with a steak knife.
A woman told Drake she saw the child’s mother, later identified as Carter, leaving another woman’s apartment without the children earlier in the day.
The officer went to the apartment and also made contact renter, according got the arrest report. The renter said her apartment had been burglarized.
Carter showed up and told Officer Drake several stories about why her children were by themselves, according to OPD. Drake told Carter to remain at the apartment while she went to her patrol car.
When the officer left, however, Carter ran from the apartment.
Drake called the Department of Children and Families and took the children to OPD. They were later turned over to a relative.
A DCF official informed Drake of their investigation into Carter for a previous possible child neglect incident, according to the OPD report.
Carter was arrested Sunday at the apartment complex. As of Tuesday, she was still at the jail in lieu of $5,000 bond.
