ST. LOUIS – Authorities say a 2-year-old girl in her grandfather’s care was found in a St. Louis alley, drugged up on cocaine.
The girl’s mother reported her missing from Poplar Bluff, Missouri after the grandfather hadn’t returned with her.
St. Louis City prosecutors have filed a felony child endangerment charge against 48-year-old Steven Herrmann, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri.
According to court documents, Herrmann was watching his 2-year-old granddaughter identified as “T.K.” between August 19 and the 22.
Poplar Bluff Police said the girl’s mother gave him permission to take the girl from their home in Poplar Bluff, Missouri to visit a family member in a St. Louis Hospital. The mother reported the girl missing when Herrmann had not returned with the girl four days later and wasn’t picking up his phone.
Poplar Bluff Police detectives tracked his GPS coordinates to an alley in the Dutchtown Neighborhood of south St. Louis and relayed the information to the girl’s mother and St. Louis police.
Records show when a family member arrived, Herrmann locked “T.K.” in the car and ran off.
St. Louis Police got the girl out of the car and took her to St. Louis Children’s Hospital for a wellness check, where doctors discovered cocaine in her system.
Prosecutors say, Herrmann, “acted in a manner that created a substantial risk to the life, body, and health of “T.K.”, a child less than seventeen years of age, by exposing “T.K.” to cocaine.”
A warrant has been issued for Herrmann’s arrest. A judge has set a cash-only bond at $15,000.