TEXARKANA, Texas -- A woman charged with child endangerment after her young daughter was found walking down College Drive in the middle of the night has a March 21 court date, according to Bowie County court records.
The case against Shardeyjah Beard, 24, has been filed in Bowie County's 202nd District Court with Judge John Tidwell, according to court documents.
The child was found walking down College Drive at 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 14, 2022.
Beard's bail was set at $100,000, according to jail records. She bonded out of the Bi-State jail on Dec. 31, 2022, according to jail records. Beard is represented by the Bowie County Public Defender's Office.
Texarkana Texas Police Officer Jonathan Price was on patrol the morning of Dec. 14 when he was flagged down by a woman who said she had just found a child walking down College Drive. The girl was barefoot and wearing only pajamas, even though it was cold and wet outside, according to police.
The girl told police she woke up and could not find her mother, so she decided to search for her. She showed officers where she lived, and police reportedly found the front door of the apartment open and nobody home.
After several minutes, Beard returned to the apartment and allegedly did not have a reasonable explanation for leaving her daughter home alone. Price noticed Beard appeared to be intoxicated and smelled of marijuana, according to police.
Beard was arrested, and the girl's grandmother came to the apartment to take the child home with her.
Child endangerment is a felony. Punishment varies from less than two years in jail up to 20 years in prison.