Staff report

WALDO, Fla. – Sabine Thrift, 59, was arrested early this morning for allegedly leaving two five-year-old girls sleeping in a shed without electricity or water.

At about 2:55 a.m. on June 28, an Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputy responded to a property in the 13600 block of NE U.S. Hwy 301 in Waldo, where witnesses said they had found two five-year-old girls asleep in a shed with a brick blocking the door. The deputy noted that the shed’s door was only held closed by the brick and the shed is only about 100 feet from the highway, so the children could have pushed their way out and wandered onto the highway in an area that was not well-lit.

A witness said she had seen Thrift at the Waldo Train Station, where Thrift said a woman had left the children with her while she went to the store, but she was not going to babysit the children and the woman who had asked her to babysit needed to learn her lesson.

Post Miranda, Thrift reportedly said she stayed at the shed for two hours before leaving to go to the store. She reportedly admitted that she had not checked on the children after leaving the shed; the deputy noted that she had a cell phone but had not contacted law enforcement or notified them that the children were left in the shed.

The deputy reported that the shed had no running water or electricity, and a large knife was within reach of the children.

Thrift has been charged with two counts of child neglect without serious bodily harm.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.