ALYSSA MOORE - 2 yo/ Accused: Mother-Lauren Schmidt - Hattiesburg MI

Forrest County sheriff's officials have
charged the mother of a 2-year-old girl who drowned in Little Black
Creek with child neglect.
Investigator Nick Calico says he decided to
charge 33-year-old Lauren Schmidt of Hattiesburg after questioning her
about the incident.

Calico said the sheriff's office received a
call that the little girl, identified as Alyssa Moore, was missing
around 5:40 p.m. Sunday.

The sheriff's department, its dive team and
other emergency personnel responded to the scene and began to search the
creek at Lower Bridge near Brooklyn.

Calico said the child's body was discovered shortly after 8 p.m.

Schmidt was booked into the Forrest County jail Monday. She was released from jail later in the day on $2,500 bond.
http://www.wlbt.com/story/17320039/mother-charged-with-neglect-after-daughter-drowns

why let this heifer out on bail? she doesnt deserve any free time!!

This judge doesn't think much of a babies life does he.

Once it is investigated it might well be much more than "neglect".

This POS mother needs to be in jail.

why dont they have standard punishment, nationwide, for such things as crimes against children? i just dont understand the discrepancy between states.

Standard and HARSH. These POSs don't need to be coddled. They don't need to be let out of bail on a token bail bond.

Toddler drowns in Hattiesburg; parents arrested and charged

April 9, 2012
A WDAM report

HATTIESBURG – Steven Moore is the second person charged after a 2-year-old girl drowned in Black Creek Sunday night. Moore, 45, was arrested Tuesday on child neglect charges stemming from the death of Alyssa Moore.

Nick Calico, an investigator with the Forrest County Sheriff’s Department, said evidence collected during interviews led to the charges against Moore, who is also being held on a probation violation.

Forrest County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Alyssa’s mother, 33-year-old Lauren Schmidt of Hattiesburg, late Sunday night following her release from Forrest General Hospital, where she was taken and treated for shock following the incident.

Authorities said Schmidt told investigators that she left Alyssa with two juveniles to tend to her other, younger child, during the family outing.

“What we’re being told is the child was playing in the area on the sandbar by the water and the adults were down there back and forth between there and underneath the bridge,” said Calico. “That’s still part of the investigation, to find out who was there with the child at that time because there were so many people back and forth with the child.”

Moore is not Alyssa’s biological child, but has been acting as her father.

The investigation is ongoing, but authorities said it appears to have been an accidental drowning that happened at approximately 5 p.m. on April 1.

The toddler’s body was recovered three hours later about a quarter mile downstream from where she was last seen playing.

In WDAM footage, Schmidt can be seen being helped out of a rescue boat, soaking wet, after frantically swimming the creek in search of her daughter after she disappeared in the water.

Authorities said the tragedy occured during a family gathering near the lower bridge at Brooklyn and relatives noticed Alyssa was missing only after a few minutes.

“We’re still investigating whether alcohol or anything else was a contributing factor in the incident,” Calico said.

Schmidt was released from jail Monday morning on $2,500 bond. Moore’s bond was also set at $2,500.

http://dev.themississippilink.com/2012/04/09/toddler-drowns-in-hattiesburg-parents-arrested-and-charged/