Man Arrested for Reporting Kidnapping After Paying Homeless Woman $20 to Watch Granddaughter

If you have a child or a grandchild, you will find this decision made by a grandparent particularly disturbing.

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A man was arrested on Sunday, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, for allegedly asking a homeless woman to watch his granddaughter for $20 so he could go have drinks at a bar.

In an interview with FOX40.com on Tuesday, the homeless woman, Lauren Jope, shared her perspective on the incident. She expressed her surprise at being entrusted with such huge responsibility as a complete stranger.

I was like, ‘Okay that’s a big thing… you don’t know who I am,’ but I knew that she would be safe with me.

The situation began to unfold when deputies responded to reports of a man asking people for help and claiming his 7-year-old granddaughter had been kidnapped. According to FOX40.com, the grandfather of the child, Jason Warren, was heavily intoxicated and admitted to paying a homeless woman to take his granddaughter to a thrift store while he went to a bar.

She was about 28 to 30 years old I knew, I could tell by her character that she seemed like a decent person. I trusted her like I would trust my sister or my cousin.

 

After paying the woman, he went to a bar for four hours.

Meanwhile, law enforcement authorities were determined to locate the missing girl utilizing helicopters, unmanned aerial systems, and K9 units.

Fortunately, the homeless woman and the child were located after hearing announcements from the helicopter. The child was returned unharmed, and the woman's side of the story was corroborated. Jope told officers that the child may have been in this situation with a stranger before.

She wasn’t scared at all and it seemed like maybe something that had maybe happened before

Warren faces charges of felony child endangerment, among others, and is being held on a $75,000 bail. Shockingly, when asked by Fox40.com if he would do something like this again, he responded by saying, “Yes, I would. I didn’t do anything wrong. Everything I did I told God about and I said, ‘It’s your will God, not my will. Let your will be done.'”

Once the 7-year-old's aunt was cleared by Child Protective Services she returned home with her.