A California man was arrested after he allegedly paid a homeless woman $20 to watch his 7-year-old granddaughter while he got drunk at a bar, according to police.
Jason Warren, 54, was flagging down strangers for help around 7:45 p.m. on Monday night claiming that his grandkid had been kidnapped for human trafficking, prompting a passerby to contact the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.
When deputies arrived, they found Warren “highly intoxicated,” according to police. He told them he’d given an unknown homeless woman $20 to go to a thrift store with the girl while he went into the bar four hours earlier to drink.
The homeless woman, who the sheriff’s office is calling a “guardian angel,” said she was confused but knew the girl was in good hands.
“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,” Lauren Jope told FOX40.com.
The Sheriff’s Office deployed K9s, helicopters and drone units to track down the girl. About a half hour later, Jope returned to the parking lot after hearing announcements over the PA system.
Jope confirmed that Warren had paid her the $20 to go to the thrift store with the girl. She said she did not think he was capable of taking care of his granddaughter due to his drunken state, and took the girl to her “camp” to get some food.
The girl, who was not in any distress and had no injuries, corroborated Jope’s account.
Warren was arrested and charged with felony child endangerment and was held at the Sacramento County Main Jail on a $75,000 bond.
When asked if he would do it again, Warren said “Yes, I would.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong. Everything I did I told God about and I said, ‘It’s your will God, not my will. Let your will be done,” he said.
The child’s aunt has full custody of the girl, but she had asked Warren to watch her that day because she had to work.
Warren told Fox40 that he was completely confident that Jope could take care of his granddaughter, despite not knowing the homeless woman.
“She was about 28 to 30 years old,” Warren told the outlet from jail. “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.”
