Cedar Park Woman Charged With Endangering Child

CEDAR PARK, TEXAS — The sight of a diaper-clad toddler wandering alone on a Cedar Park street early Thursday morning has led to the mother's arrest, according to a published report.

A University of Texas Police Department officer who happened to be driving along the 300 block of W. Whitestone Boulevard saw the 2-year-old walking alone early Thursday morning just before 5 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit reference by the Austin American-Statesman. The child's mother, Nicole Dawson, 29, of Cedar Park later called police that evening to report the child as missing, the report reads.

The woman is said to have told police she and her son were staying with a friend as she sought a place in which to live and had fallen asleep together the night before, according to the affidavit. She said she woke up in the morning and realized he was missing, the affidavit reads.

The homeowner told police the boy had been seen wandering in a Walmart store by himself in July just before 2:30 a.m., according to the report.

Dawson was booked into the Williamson County Jail with bail set at $10,000. The woman was subsequently charged with endangering a child, a state felony punishable by up to two years in jail.

>>> Read the full story at Austin American-Statesman

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