JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After a kidnapped 2-year-old girl was found safe in a dumpster Thursday evening less than an hour after she was taken in Northwest Jacksonville, the girl's grandmother commended the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office for its quick response in saving the toddler.
Laquanna Anquanette Thomas, 24, was caught shortly after the child was found and was charged with child neglect, interference with custody and false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13.
Police said Thomas entered a home on Cartier Circle without permission about 9 p.m. and took the toddler. The child's family told officers to begin their search in the area of Golfbrook Drive, just a few miles from their home.
The child's grandmother, Sierra Cue said she was in the home when Thomas, one of her daughter's friends, took the toddler. In the arrest report, Thomas was identified as the ex-girlfriend of the child's mother.
Cue said there was nothing she could do when Thomas grabbed the child.
"I'm too weak because I am a dialysis patient," she said. "I'm too weak. I cannot fight her."
Cue said officers in a helicopter spotted Thomas and saw her toss the toddler into a dumpster.
“They found her in record time,” Cue said. "I'm thankful and grateful that she's alive, and no scars, because she picked up and threw my grandchild in a dumpster. And if they wasn't watching, the police, and if the helicopter didn't come and fly over the area where we told them that they was at, they wouldn't have heard her crying.”
According to the police report, former Jacksonville Jaguar Ernest Wilford, who is now an officer with JSO, was the one who heard the child crying and found her in the dumpster.
The child was unharmed and was returned to her family.
Police said Thomas was captured later in the same area at 35th Street and Golfbrook Drive. It's unclear how she and toddler got to that location, police said.
Cue said Thomas put the girl in a car and drove away from the house.
"She kidnapped my grandchild and drove over there, so we commend them that they got my grandchild back here safely within an hour,” Cue said.
Thomas has been arrested 10 times locally, charged with stabbing someone, throwing a 2-by-4 through a window and throwing feces and urine at another inmate in jail. She was on probation when she was arrested.
