Mother Arrested For Leaving Child At OKC Store

Workers at Ross Dress For Less in northwest Oklahoma City called police after they said a woman walked out of the store and left her child behind.

On Monday, December 19, employees said they watched as 22-year-old Rachel Lynette Wood stumbled around the store while pushing a cart. Police said wood's 6 month-old child was in a carrier in the cart.

Workers said Wood banged the cart into items several times and seemed to have no regard for her baby's safety. At one point, Wood asked an employee to watch her child while she went to the water fountain to make a bottle. The worker said as Wood walked away, it was clear she was under the influence of something.

The woman later tried to push her shopping cart out of the front doors of the store, but could not because all the store's carts have long, vertical security poles that make it impossible for the carts to fit through the entrance and exit doors. Employees said Wood banged the pole against the door frame several times. When she could not get the cart through the doors, workers watched her leave the cart inside the store and walk out to the parking lot. Wood's baby was still in a carrier in the cart.

Workers said they monitored the baby, waiting for Wood to come back into the store. They said she wandered around the parking lot for several minutes and appeared to be searching for her car. According to the police report, a worker eventually went out to help Wood and "make sure that she would not get into a vehicle and drive off or even leave her baby behind."

The worker escorted Wood back into the store. Employees said as she reached inside her purse, several pill bottles fell to the floor. Workers then called police.

An officer also observed that Wood appeared unsteady and under the influence of something. Police arrested her on complaints of child neglect and desertion of a child under 15. Wood was booked into the Oklahoma County jail. The child's grandmother came to the store and took custody of the baby.