A babysitter in Georgia was arrested for allegedly kidnapping two young kids after she befriended their mother in a Facebook group to connect expectant mothers, and it turns out that this was not the first time she was caught allegedly committing the same crime.
Lakesha Brown was arrested on Monday, August 17, and taken into custody after she was accused of kidnapping a 4-year-old girl and 11-month-old girl.
Atlanta police said in a statement that authorities learned of the incident when the girls’ mother called 911 around 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, August 16, to report that her daughters were missing. She said that she left her kids with Brown, 42, at her apartment on Saturday, August 15, at 6 p.m. while she went out to dinner.
She returned home about four hours later and learned that Brown and her daughters were nowhere to be found.
The mom managed to get into contact with Brown and she said she would bring the kids back later. However, she never did and the mother ultimately called the police.
Police viewed the incident as an “active kidnapping” and a statewide Amber Alert was sent out amid the search for Brown and the girls. Authorities pinged Brown’s phone on August 17 and tracked her to a trailer that was about five miles away from where the girls’ had last been seen.
A responding officer reported that they heard a child’s cry from the trailer upon their arrival, while the trailer was also locked.
Officers used a cinder block and bolt cutters to open the trailer, and they found Brown inside with the two girls. The officers then carried the kids out of the trailer and Brown was held at gunpoint before she was taken into custody, according to bodycam footage.
The trailer had no air conditioning and the temperature nearly reached 100 degrees at the time of the arrest, according to an arrest warrant obtained by WXIA. Additionally, police said that the trailer was dirty and “unsuitable” for children.
“By placing and maintaining the small children in these conditions without proper authority or adequate care, Ms. Brown endangered and jeopardized their health, safety and well-being,” the warrants stated. “The children were deprived of the necessary care and sustenance required for their health and welfare.”
Police said that the kids were taken to the hospital before they were reunited with their mother.
The girls’ mother reportedly met Brown via a “pregnancy mom group” on Facebook. They reportedly built up a rapport for about a year before the mother hired Brown to babysit.
The recent incident took place five years after Brown was previously accused of kidnapping a child in Alabama. At the time, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a home after they received reports that a 4-day-old boy had been abducted when his grandmother, mother and Brown were at the home.
Authorities said the mom took a nap, and Brown and the boy were gone by the time she woke up. The mother then called Brown and she allegedly claimed she put him in his playpen before she left.
Officers later tracked Brown down and she was charged with kidnapping. The case remains ongoing, and authorities issued a warrant for her arrest after she missed a court hearing for the first kidnapping.
Brown is currently being held in the Fulton County Jail without bond. It’s not currently clear if she had retained legal counsel or entered pleas in either case.
