A 3-year-old boy found for the third time this month running alone down a busy Carson City Street resulted in the arrest of his mother Thursday.
Sheyanne Louise Moore, 27, a certified nursing assistant, was booked into the Carson City Jail at 12:55 p.m. on suspicion of gross misdemeanor child neglect.
According to the arrest report, Moore's son was spotted crossing westbound on Saliman Road at 11:30 a.m. during lunch-hour traffic. Witnesses reported that the boy appeared to be following a dog.
The passerby tried to get the child to stay with him, but when the dog headed back across the road, the boy "disregarded him and again darted across Saliman Road, this time almost being struck by a car," the report states.
Two other witnesses, who live near the child on Roundhouse Lane, said the boy came by their homes on Thursday morning as well.
One woman said the child came to her door three or four times over the course of three-and-a-half hours. She said his pants were wet from the knees down, and his bare arms in his short-sleeved shirt were red from the cold.
Another neighbor said she saw the boy about 10:30 a.m. with his dog and when he knocked on her door she told him to go home. She told officers a similar incident happened two weeks prior when the boy walked in her back door as she and her husband were eating breakfast, took a bite of her food and said his mother was sleeping.
Police reports indicate that Thursday's incident was at least the third time officers had contact with this child and his mother.
On Dec. 5, the boy wandered into the Winner's Corner at Fifth Street and Saliman Road about 11:55 a.m. and told employees his mother was asleep. The boy's mother was located, child protective services was notified and the boy was returned to him home.
On Dec. 12, a woman saw the boy running northbound on Saliman Road toward Winner's Corner about 11:32 p.m. Police again returned the boy to his mother and called child services.
According to Moore's arrest report, officers told her after the last contact that if they found the boy wandering alone again, they would arrest her on charges of neglect.
A state childcare worker told police that Thursday's incident was the fourth time they'd had contact with Moore, according to the report.
Moore allegedly told police she sleeps during the day because of her job, and that she could not afford a sitter, according to the report.
She was taken into custody and the boy was turned over to his grandmother.
Moore's bail was set at $2,500.
• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.