Couple Arrested After Allegedly Abandoning 5-Year-Old Daughter on Valentine's Day
News 10:28 AM PST, February 17, 2017 - Inside Edition
10:28 AM PST, February 17, 2017 - Inside Edition
A Louisiana couple has been arrested after allegedly deserting their 5-year-old daughter earlier this week, leaving her with a complete stranger who called police when they didn't return, officials said.
Lacey Allen, 32, and Shane White, 37, are accused of leaving their daughter in the care of an unknown woman at about 1 p.m. Tuesday in East Baton Rouge, according to reports.
The pair allegedly told the woman they would be back for the child in 45 minutes, and after two hours passed with no sign of them returning, the woman called police, WAFB-TV reported.
Officers took custody of the little girl and notified the Department of Children and Family Services, which interviewed the little girl.
By about 8 p.m. White and Allen were met by police, who had tracked the couple down to the Wood Acres Motel on Airline Highway, where they reportedly resided.
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Their 2-year-old daughter was with the pair in their car, which was piled full of trash and dirty diapers and had only one child car seat, according to WAFB-TV.
The room the family was staying in — containing just a queen-sized bed, two tables and a night stand—was reportedly "filthy," with food and clothes on the floor, spoiled food on the kitchen stove and dirty pans left in the sink, authorities said.
They also had nothing in the refrigerator but a gallon of milk with about one cup's worth of milk, according to reports.
Both girls were placed in DCFS's custody, while online records show White and Allen were arrested and both charged with child desertion and two counts of cruelty to juveniles.
Read: Little Girl, 3, Found Alone in the Street After Wandering Away from Day Care: Cops
Hours before allegedly leaving their elder daughter with a stranger, Allen took to social media to express her feelings for White.
"Feels like so long ago ... Yet feels like yesterday too. As long as it stays this way then we will b (sic) fine," she posted on Facebook at about 8 a.m., sharing a 2013 photo of the pair kissing.
"Love u daddy," she wrote, signing the post "love jenna."
Minutes later, she shared the same photo again.
The pair remained jailed in the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Friday.
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