Woman Arrested After Deputies Find 2-Year-Old Home Alone

Deputies arrested a 21-year-old Gaston woman Tuesday after they found a 2-year-old boy at her house locked in a room alone, wearing only a dirty diaper. 

Tabitha Shea Jones is charged with unlawful neglect of a child by a legal custodian, according to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department. 

Deputies also charged Jones and the two men who live with her at the Gaston home — Brandon Lee Perryman, 22, and John David Swygert, 23 — with possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute it. 

Deputies say that around 1:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jones left the 2-year-old boy home alone for two hours. When deputies executed a search warrant at the homes, they found the boy locked in the room with a bowl of cereal on the floor, according to the sheriff's department. 

Detectives took the boy into emergency protective custody and put a clean diaper and clothes on him, according to the sheriff's department. He was placed in custody of the Department of Social Services after Lexington County Emergency Medical Services personnel examined him and found that he was OK.

Deputies also found about 128 grams of marijuana in the kitchen at the Gaston house, according to the sheriff's department. Deputies also say three plastic bags containing about one-half ounce of marijuana were in Swygert’s bedroom.

A two-foot water pipe used to smoke marijuana was found on the couch, according to the sheriff's department. Deputies also found a beer can and knives scattered around the house. 

The house was in disarray, Sheriff James Metts said. Deputies found trash in the living room and pots with food that had been left out for at least a day, he said. The only items in the refrigerator were eggs, one container of chocolate syrup, one can of beer, one container of chocolate ice cream and one can of coffee, Metts said. 

Deputies originally went to the home to serve an arrest warrant on a woman charged with driving a motor vehicle with a suspended driver’s license, Metts said. The officers entered the home after they smelled a strong odor of marijuana.

Jones, Perryman and Swygert later returned to the home, where detectives arrested them.

Jones is being held at the Lexington County Detention Center while awaiting a bond hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Perryman is being held Wednesday at the Lexington County Detention Center on a $10,000 bond. John David Swygert, 23, was released from the detention center Wednesday after posting a $10,000 bond.