Woman acting as baby-sitter arrested for allegedly abducting girl

Thursday December 19, 2002

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP) A woman charged with kidnapping last year was arrested for allegedly abducting another child who was found unharmed, authorities said.

Rochelle Garrett, 29, was arrested Wednesday after police responded to a tip that she and a 2-year-old girl were staying at a Santa Monica hotel. Garrett was taken into custody and a man accompanying her was taken in for questioning, authorities said.

Garrett was acting as a baby sitter for Shanyia Payton and agreed to keep her until Dec. 15. She was supposed to return Shanyia to her mother but she never showed up, police said.

``I haven't eaten, I haven't slept in days,'' Katrina Brown said after she was reunited with her daughter. ``I've been up for four days.''

In March 2001, Garrett was charged with kidnapping for taking a child from a homeless center in Los Angeles. She later pleaded guilty to deprivation of custody, and the kidnapping charge was dropped as part of a plea bargain.

Court records show that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Anita H. Dymant placed Garrett on three years' probation on condition that she not associate with any child without adult supervision.

She also was told to report to a mental health center within five days of her probation, records show.

She was later jailed for violating probation. She was accused of disrupting court proceedings in the San Gabriel Valley, and refusing to leave after police escorted her out of a courthouse. Garrett admitted in September that she had violated probation but Dymant released her on her own recognizance.

On Dec. 9, Dymant reinstated Garrett's probation after she agreed to undergo psychiatric counseling, court records show.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)