ALOHA, Ore. – An Aloha mom was arrested after her two-year-old daughter was found wandering alone four times last week.
On all four occasions, the child was found along a busy stretch of 185th Avenue, near Johnson Street.
In the first two incidents, neighbors found the little girl and brought her back to her mother, Alexandra Watkins, 23, who lives in an apartment nearby.
Then, Tuesday afternoon, a TriMet bus driver found the toddler and called 911. Investigators said after learning it was not an isolated incident, deputies arrested Watkins. She was released that night and then the next morning, she was arrested again, for the same thing.
Around 7 a.m., a Good Samaritan on a bicycle found the toddler and called 911.
Neighbor John Taylor said he found the toddler wandering alone last week and brought her home.
“That to me is child abuse. I thought to myself, this poor little girl could have been killed, run over by a car,” Taylor said.
The toddler was taken into custody by the Department of Human Services, along with her 3-year-old sister. DHS later put the children in the care of a relative.
Watkins is facing child neglect charges and remains behind bars on $5,000 bail. She was scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
