NACOGDOCHES COUNTY, Texas – A Nacogdoches County woman was arrested over the weekend on a felony charge for leaving a young child home alone.
Britnie Nicole Jeffress, 28, is charged with abandoning a child with intent to return, which is a state-jail felony. She was booked into the county jail Friday, Oct. 21, and released after posting the $7,500 bond set by a Justice of the Peace.
NCSO deputies began their investigation around 11:50 p.m. Friday night when 911 operators received a call from a resident in the 2000 block of FM 2864 that a 4-year-old child knocked on their door asking to be let inside. The child had walked a short distance from one residence to the other, and said they’d been left home alone.
While deputies were interviewing the child and adult neighbor, the child spotted a car that looked like one belonging to the child’s parent pass by the residence. A deputy who was interviewing the child left the home and made a traffic stop on the suspect vehicle, which was being driven by Jeffress. Jeffress said she’d left the home to take care of a family emergency at a local hospital and had been gone only a short time. Deputies found her account to be fabricated, at which point Jeffress was taken
into custody. During their investigation, deputies were told Jeffress had been out drinking with a relative that evening at a local bar while the child was left at home unsupervised. This case is still under investigation.
Under the Texas Penal Code, state jail felonies are punishable by between 180 days and two years of incarceration, and a fine up to $10,000.