Gainesville woman arrested after allegedly leaving small children alone for 3.5 hours while she went to a pawn shop

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jerra Janay Myrick, 29, was arrested yesterday and charged with five counts of child neglect without great bodily harm after allegedly leaving her small children alone for about 3.5 hours while she went to a pawn shop.

At about 1:28 p.m. on January 15, a Gainesville Police Department (GPD) officer responded to Uptown Village (3780 NW 24th Blvd) to assist a Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigator. The investigator said he went to the apartment to investigate a report that the children had been exposed to a domestic violence incident the previous evening. The investigator knocked loudly on the door and received no response, but the officer reported that he could hear a small child inside, calling out.

The investigator reportedly called Myrick, who “hesitantly” said she would come home and speak to him.

Myrick reportedly arrived at 2:04 p.m., holding one of her children. The officer reported that she initially said two of her children were at school and none of them were in the apartment. However, when the investigator asked to do a walkthrough of the apartment, found a locked door, and asked Myrick to open it, she reportedly said there was an 18-year-old in the room. The investigator asked for access to the room, and Myrick reportedly said he would have to go to the leasing office to get a key to that room.

However, a short time later, Myrick reportedly admitted that four of her children (all 10 years old or younger) were inside the room. She reportedly said someone else had picked up the older two children from school and then watched them, but she admitted that the younger two children had not gone to daycare.

The investigator spoke with one of the older children away from Myrick, and the child reportedly said she had not gone to school but had been at the apartment all day with no adult present. She said she heard the investigator knocking and called Myrick to tell her someone was knocking. She said Myrick told her to take her siblings into a bedroom and lock the door.

Post Miranda, Myrick reportedly said someone else had picked up two of the children to take them to school and she watched the other three children until 10:29 a.m., when she took one of the children with her to a pawn shop. She reportedly said she was gone until about 1 p.m., but the officer reported that he and the investigator were there at about 1:30 p.m. and saw Myrick return at about 2 p.m.

Myrick reportedly said she called someone in the leasing office between 10 and 11 a.m. to unlock her apartment to let the 18-year-old in and said the 18-year-old stayed with the children until the investigator arrived, “at which point she must have snuck past us.”

Myrick also reportedly said she had learned at 10:48 a.m. that the older two children had not gone to school, but she reportedly had no response when she was told that an older child said she had been at the apartment all day; Myrick said she didn’t know why the child would say that.

The leasing office employee reportedly told the officer that he had not been to the unit that day until after the investigator arrived and had not opened the door for anyone else.

The officer reported that not only were the children locked inside the apartment for about 3.5 hours with no adult supervision, nobody was able to get into the apartment, including Myrick, who “was only able to reenter the home with the leasing office’s help.”

Myrick has no local criminal convictions and has been released on bail.

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.