Mom ate entire 'footlong sandwich' meant to be shared with malnourished kids, then locked them in a dark shed near a highway so she could run a 'quick errand,' police say

A parent and a grandma of 2 young kids person been arrested aft the children were recovered unsupervised and locked successful a acheronian shed adjacent to a highway, authorities said.

Tamara Stoiber, 37, and Sabine Thrift, 59, person each been charged with 2 counts of child neglect, portion Stoiber has besides been charged with 2 counts of mendacious imprisonment, according to tribunal records. They are some successful the custody of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office in Florida.

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Early Saturday morning, astatine astir 3 a.m., a "concerned citizen" called a sheriff's lawman saying 2 children were abandoned successful the country of Waldo, a tiny municipality northeast of Gainesville. Deputies arrived to the 13500 artifact of Northeast U.S. Highway 301 and spoke with 2 witnesses who had recovered the children, some of them 5-year-old girls, locked successful a shed.

The witnesses told instrumentality enforcement that the kids were locked wrong the operation with a ceramic placed against the door, "apparently to forestall them from leaving," the sheriff's bureau wrote successful a societal media post. There was nary energy oregon moving h2o inside, and a ample weapon was placed connected apical of 1 of the girls' backpacks "and could person been a hazard if the weapon would person fallen oregon been knocked implicit portion the children were sleeping," an apprehension study of Stoiber stated.

Furthermore, the girls "had been near without nutrient oregon immoderate mode to telephone for help."

The children were not severely hurt, but deputies described some girls arsenic being malnourished, disheveled, and dirty, Orlando Fox affiliate WOFL reported.

"I privation you to besides support successful caput that these young girls are astir apt highly scared, frightened, it's dark, it is precise aboriginal betwixt midnight and 3 to 3.30 successful the morning," Alachua County Sheriff's Office Captain and Public Information Officer Chris Sims told the outlet. "There is nary lights connected the extracurricular of this shed either."

He besides pointed retired however adjacent the shed is to the adjacent Highway 301, conscionable implicit 100 feet.

"So, Heaven forbid these young girls locomotion retired of the shed looking for help, they would unluckily astir apt rotation into a large road and, and, you know, catastrophic results would astir apt instrumentality place," Sims added.

According to the sheriff's office, Stoiber, reportedly the girls' mother, said she "stepped distant for a speedy errand" and near the children successful Thrift's care. However, instrumentality enforcement said Stoiber ended up being gone for respective hours, and Thrift, said to beryllium the girls' grandmother, "allegedly refused to supervise them."

After Stoiber's departure, Thrift said she stayed astatine the shed for astir 2 hours, according to Stoiber's apprehension report. However, she past near successful hunt of Stoiber due to the fact that "she did not privation to babysit the children" — a travel that took 2 hours. Within this clip period, deputies were called to the shed.

Thrift ended up uncovering Stoiber and telling her that she was "not a babysitter" and that Stoiber "needed to larn her lesson," according to Thrift's apprehension report.

The apprehension study besides states that the witnesses who called the sheriff's bureau elaborate how, earlier the pursuing day, Stoiber arrived astatine their residence "soaking wet" with the 2 girls, claiming to person walked from Gainesville to Waldo, astir 14 miles. When 1 of the witnesses gave a "footlong sandwich" for them to eat, Stoiber reportedly ate the full happening without sharing it with the girls. After allegedly locking the girls successful the shed, she past near to spell to a store with her boyfriend.

It is unclear if Thrift is Stoiber's mother.

"The information and well-being of children stay a apical precedence for our agency," the sheriff's bureau said successful a statement. "We are committed to protecting children from neglect and abuse, and we promote the assemblage to study immoderate concerns involving kid welfare. Together, we tin assistance guarantee each kid has a harmless situation to turn and thrive."