CORNWALL — A 26-year-old Annville woman is charged with child endangerment, possession of drug paraphernalia and providing a false report to law enforcement after police say the 3-year-old child she was caring for was not properly dressed for weather conditions and was exposed to open infectious syringes in a back pack in her car.
Tawny Lynn Reynolds, of the first block of Sealer Creek Road, also gave a false name to a police officer when she was questioned, police say.
According to police, the incident happened at noon on Dec. 22, 2017, at a Speedway convenience store on the 3100 block of Lebanon Road in West Cornwall Township. An officer observed two “thin and gaunt-looking” men standing by the car, and a woman, later identified as Reynolds, with a child in the back seat, according to the criminal complaint.
The officer observed that the front right headlight on the car was damaged. The men and woman appeared to be acting “in a nervous manner” and were constantly watching the officer.
While the officer looked on, the criminal complaint says, one of the men took a backpack from the car’s trunk and placed it in the front seat of their vehicle. The officer also saw the child in the back seat was wearing only a jacket and underwear in 40-degree weather.
There was no car seat for the child in the vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.
The officer approached Reynolds and one of the men, later identified as Bryan Aungst, and asked about the lack of a car seat and the identity of the child, the criminal complaint says. Reynolds initially identified herself as Kaitlyn Spence, and said she was homeless, according to the criminal complaint. She allegedly told the officer that she was caring for the child for an acquaintance. The child was not related to any of the vehicle’s occupants, according to police.
When asked to provide identification, Reynolds allegedly told the officer she didn’t have anything in her purse but needles.
According to the criminal complaint, Reynolds’ purse and the backpack found in the vehicle contained multiple uncapped syringes, heroin baggies, cooking spoons and other drug paraphernalia, along with diapers for the child.
Reynolds eventually identified herself by her correct name when confronted by the officer, the criminal complaint says. She allegedly told the officer she had been caring for the child since the day before. She told police she was homeless and did not know any of the child’s relatives.
The criminal complaint does not state what happened to the child.
