Mother Admits Abandoning 5-Year-Old Son in Toy Store

A 19-year-old woman admitted in court Tuesday that she left her 5-year-old son alone in a toy store and then headed home to South Caro...

A 19-year-old woman admitted in court Tuesday that she left her 5-year-old son alone in a toy store and then headed home to South Carolina.

Tamekka Adams pleaded guilty to abandonment and endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to five years probation. She also was ordered to enroll in a parenting class.

Her son, Jonathan, was found wandering unattended in a Toys R Us store in Brooklyn on March 21. No one came to the store to look for him and pages about the lost boy were never answered.
Jonathan stayed in a foster home and was not identified by relatives until police and children's services officials went public with their search on July 28. Adams was jailed the next day and remained in custody until last month.

Defense lawyer Wayne Bodden said Adams' mother and aunt were petitioning the city's Family Court for custody of Jonathan, who now lives with a foster family. Adams plans to try to regain custody of her son sometime next year.