Video shows two missing kids' rescue in Georgia; babysitter charged
· Toronto Sun
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Atlanta police rescued two children who were allegedly locked inside a hot trailer with their babysitter for over 24 hours in a kidnapping case earlier this month.
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Footage released by the Atlanta Police Department showed officers using a cinder block and bolt cutters to break the lock on the trailer with the children inside as they arrested their babysitter on Sunday, Aug. 16.
“Don’t move or I will shoot you,” an officer is heard shouting at a woman, who was identified as their babysitter, Lakesha Brown.
Officers are then seen carrying two crying girls — one wearing a diaper — outside the trailer, which police said was parked at an apartment complex in southwest Atlanta.
Zola Cooper, 4, and her 11-month-old sister, Norah Cooper, were reported missing by their mother the previous night, when she was unable to reach them after leaving them with Brown, police said.
Fox News reported that the mother met the alleged kidnapper through a Facebook group for mothers, and that after allegedly gaining her trust, the mother left her children with Brown while she went out to have dinner.
Police said investigators were able to locate the children after reviewing data from the babysitter’s cellphone and hearing a baby cry inside the trailer.
Accused appeared to be living in trailer: Police
Investigators said the temperature inside the cluttered trailer was 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36C) with a box fan as the only cooling source, Fox News reported.
“We also noticed that there seemed to be a mini fridge and a television. In my opinion, that’s clearly where (Brown) was living,” Atlanta Police Department Det. Sherrod Stancil said, per Fox News.
Police said the two children were taken to a local hospital and were reunited with family in good health.
Prior arrest
Citing court records, Fox News reported that Brown, 42, was charged with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of first-degree cruelty to children.
Police later discovered that Brown had an outstanding warrant for her arrest in Alabama after failing to appear in court for a separate kidnapping case involving a newborn five years ago, People reported.
Brown had pleaded not guilty in that case, but failed to show up to court for her trial in May, prosecutors said.