Early Tuesday morning, Brownwood Police Officer Aaron Taylor was dispatched to Brownwood Nursing and Rehab on a report of a possible abandoned child.
Officer Taylor’s police report indicates that 23-year-old Candace Ann McNeal arrived at the location around 11 pm Monday night with her young child to speak with an employee who she knows. Reports say that while they were talking the employee was called to check on a patient. When she returned, McNeal was gone and her child was standing at the nurses’ station crying.
Employees looked for McNeal on the premises according to the police report but could not find her or her vehicle. McNeal’s cell phone however was found in the bathroom.
Police reports say that after waiting about an hour, the employee attempted to contact some of McNeal’s relatives using the found cell phone while other employees called the police department.
Officer Taylor’s report indicates that after interviewing several employees, it was determined that McNeal did not ask anyone to watch her child.
As Taylor was conducting his investigation, McNeal’s relative arrived at the location after being called. As Officer Taylor spoke with the relative, police communications contacted the officer saying that they made contact with McNeal by telephone and she stated that she thought her daughter was with her until she arrived home. McNeal then drove back to the Nursing Center at approximately 2:35am Tuesday morning according to the police report.
Officer Taylor questioned McNeal about her whereabouts for the last two and a half hours and she said that she bought some water and then drove around listing to loud music while she “pondered the stresses of the day,” the report says.
McNeal also stated according to the police report that she looked back on her child and thought that the child was in the booster seat under a blanket. She also told police that she stopped to search for her cell phone when she realized it was missing.
Upon further investigation, Officer Taylor determined that probable cause existed to believe that McNeal left the child in a place without reasonable and necessary care. She was arrested and charged with abandoning or endangering a child with the intent to return. CPS was called and the child was released to a relative.
