Iowa Woman Charged with Child Stealing

A Des Moines woman is being held in the Polk County Jail on a charge of child stealing.

It all happened last night when 22-year-old Monica Harris was found outside a Des Moines home. According to WHO, police were called "about a woman holding a child in the front yard and looking confused." Witnesses told police the child had been stolen from a home nearby. That's strange enough, but this story gets a whole lot weirder.

Even though she told police the child belonged to her, Harris couldn't give the youngster's name. She then said someone had told her to get the child and that she was to wait for someone to pick her up. This story is about to get even stranger.

The Des Moines Police Department says the child had been taken from a babysitter. The sitter said she couldn't call the mother because she believed the woman to be in jail. Oh, and she didn't know what the mother's last name was, either.

When "mother" showed up she told police she had indeed told the babysitter she was in jail so that the babysitter would care for the child.

Oh, and one last thing... the current boyfriend of "mom" is actually the former boyfriend of Monica Harris, who he had communicated with just hours before.

Monica Marie Harris is being held in the Polk County Jail and is facing a $10,000 cash-only bond on charges of child stealing. She is also charged with violating her parole.

Personally, I hope that child remains away from his mother. That doesn't sound like the kind of home life a youngster needs to be put back into.

[via WHO and Polk County Jail]