By KERI CHAMPION

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE-A LaPlace woman has been taken into custody after her young child was found walking on the street alone with a diaper bag on Homewood Place in LaPlace.

Mike Tregre, spokesperson for St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office said that a complainant called the Sheriff’s office to report the 3-year-old child wandering alone after he tried for more than 15 minutes to locate the child’s parents.

According to St. John Sheriff reports, the child was standing next to the highway and when the complainant passed, the child stepped into the roadway before turning back to the side of the road as he went by.

When the mother was not located, the complainant reported the situation to the police.

Officers later discerned that the mother was Marsha Ward of LaPlace.

&#8220When police questioned Ward she said she had been sleeping and was not aware that her child had left the house the day before. She later stated that she had also left her youngest child alone at the residence when police asked her if she had other children,” said Tregre.

Ward then confessed that she was on medication that made her drowsy.

Ward was arrested after being read her Miranda rights and was booked with criminal abandonment. The children are now in a family member’s care.