(NEW ALBANY) – A Jeffersonville woman was arrested on Sunday evening on a charge of neglect of a dependent after leaving her ten-year-old and five-year-old children alone in a car while shopping at an area Walmart.
On January 19, 2020, around 8:37 p.m., Trooper Justin Geltmaker responded to the Walmart on Grant Line Road in New Albany after a concerned citizen reported two young children left unattended in a parked car. When Trooper Geltmaker arrived, he was flagged down and alerted to the vehicle, a red, Chevrolet Malibu, which was not running. Trooper Geltmaker advised the temperature was near 37 degrees at the time, and the local weather service advised a “real feel” of 28 degrees. Based on information gathered in his investigation, Trooper Geltmaker believed the children were left unattended for a minimum of 15 minutes before the police were notified.
When Geltmaker approached the vehicle he could see two small children in the back seat, one of which was still secured in a car seat. Trooper Geltmaker said he spoke with the children who advised their mother, 40-year-old Nashunda S. Greene, of Jeffersonville, IN, was inside the store shopping.
An assisting New Albany Police Officer then went into the store to have the mother paged. Greene was taken into custody when she arrived back at the vehicle.
The children were turned over to the custody of their father at the conclusion of the investigation.
Trooper Geltmaker was assisted by the New Albany Police Department and Trooper Jared Ferguson.
