Woman arrested for leaving children unattended in car

An Augusta woman was arrested Thursday after her two children were found alone in her car.

Tonjyanicquea Wright, 29, was charged with two counts of deprivation of a minor.

The complainant told Richmond County sheriff's deputies that a security guard said two children were left unattended in a 2012 gray Volkswagen Jetta around 3 p.m. Thursday at the Division of Family and Children Services office on Bungalow Road. The security guard and complainant walked outside and found the car running with two children sitting in the rear seat, according to the incident report.

After they went inside and asked three times about the children, the complainant said, Wright stood up and went outside to retrieve the children. According to the report, Wright told the complainant that her brother must have left them alone and went walking while she went inside.

Wright told deputies she left the car running with the air conditioning on, with her daughters and brother inside, according to the report. She said she had an argument with her brother before going inside, which might have caused him to leave the vehicle. The complainant could not confirm that the air conditioning was on because he never went inside the vehicle.

According to the report, officers saw no signs of physical contact and the children appeared to be fine. The outside temperature was about 97 degrees.

Wright is being held at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center. She is the second person to be arrested in Augusta this week for leaving children alone in a car. 

Jessica Reynolds, 28, of Swainsboro, Ga., was charged with two counts of cruelty to children Tuesday, with authorities saying she left her two children locked in a car with the windows rolled up and no air conditioning on. Deputies said the outside temperature was around 105 degrees when they arrived.