Babysitter Arrested After Reportedly Abandoning Child, Driving Drunk

The mother of a 16-month-old boy arrived home Aug. 31 arrived home at the 300 block of Meadow Bridge to find her car missing from the driveway and no sign of the babysitter she had hired to watch her child, according to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office.

The woman had given the babysitter her only key, the department indicated, and was unable to enter her home. When she called the babysitter's cell phone, she reached Farmington Hills Police, who informed her the babysitter had been arrested for driving while intoxicated after crashing the woman's car, but that her son was not inside the vehicle. 

According to the department, the woman had not given her babysitter permission to use her car and had her key hidden. 

Deputies arrived at the woman's house and forced their way inside the home, where the child was found safe and unharmed in a baby swing chair in the bedroom. The woman told deputies she had left her child in the babysitter's care at about 2 p.m. and at 8:30 p.m., a friend of the woman told deputies the babysitter and child were seen at a nearby store. The woman told deputies the babysitter, a 28-year-old Sterling Heights woman, watches her child 4-5 times per week.

Detectives will conduct an investigation into child neglect, and the department's auto theft unit also was notified of the incident, while Farmington Hills police handles the crash and drunken driving arrest and charges, the Oakland County Sheriff's Office indicated. While charges are pending, the Sheriff's office is expected to present its case to prosecutors this week.