People in Minnesota say that a 52-year-old grandmother got drunk and left her baby granddaughter in a ditch on the side of the road while it was cold, rainy, and windy outside.
Records show that Anastasia E. Vaughn was arrested on Tuesday and charged with one count of child endangerment, which means putting a child in a situation that could hurt or kill them.
If you are found guilty of child endangerment in Minnesota, you could spend up to 364 days in jail and pay a fine of up to $3,000.
A news radio station in Hope, North Dakota, said the event happened on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. This is about 175 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
The report says that around 4:30 p.m., a driver called the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office and asked them to check on the welfare of an infant child.
On Cedar Park Loop near Swan Lake, a man was driving when he saw a woman, later identified as Vaughn, walking through the woods near the road with a baby in her arms.
The driver said that the woman wasn’t wearing any shoes, even though it was raining, windy, and only about 50 degrees outside.
The woman told the man that she and the child were “fine” when he pulled over to talk to her. She then continued walking.
Soon after, the man pulled over and told the police that he saw the woman running away from a ditch next to the road, according to KVLY, an NBC affiliate in Fargo, North Dakota. The baby did not look like it was still in her.
The driver reportedly found the baby on the ground in the ditch when he went to look into what was going on. He is said to have picked up the baby and called 911.
When the police got there, they said they saw Vaughn walking through the woods near the ditch where the baby had been left alone.
In an affidavit, deputies said that Vaughn slurred her speech, seemed to stumble when she walked, and smelled like she had been drinking. It was also said that her eyes were red and watery.
Vaughn was quickly identified by police as the baby’s grandmother, even though she was said to look uncertain.
Based on KVLY, deputies wrote that Vaughn “seemed confused and said she was looking for a child but couldn’t answer specific questions.” “She said she couldn’t remember what happened and wouldn’t say how much she had to drink.”
The child’s grandfather, Vaughn’s husband, arrived at the scene and told the police that he and his wife lived nearby.
He also confirmed that Vaughn had been drinking that day. Someone said Vaughn took a breath test and found that her blood alcohol level was 0.229, which is almost three times the Minnesota legal limit for driving.
Records from the Otter Tail County Jail show that Vaughn was still being held there on a $10,000 bond as of Thursday.
