A man who took a 7-year-old girl in his car after the child’s father was arrested in Waynesboro will not be criminally charged.
District Attorney Jared Williams said Friday that there was no evidence of criminal intent on the part of Jacques Gardner.
“Mr. Gardner is 34 years old, has no criminal history, and has a documented intellectual disability,” Williams said. “There is no evidence of coercion or force.”
The Jan. 22 incident started at the El Cheapo gas station on Liberty Street in Waynesboro.
The 7-year old child was left in a vehicle at night while her father, Sam Hendrix, went inside a convenience store to play lottery tickets, Williams said in a press release. A dispute with store staff led to police being called. The child remained in the car screaming while police arrested Hendrix for disorderly conduct.
“It was at this point Mr. Gardner offered to take the child home,” Williams said. “Before he could leave the parking lot, Mr. Gardner was stopped by officers and followed their commands. After officers informed him the child’s mother was on the way to retrieve her, he made no further attempts to leave.”
Williams said his office is bound by the law and cannot bring charges unsubstantiated by evidence. Felony charges like kidnapping require proof of criminal intent, he said.
“This intent must be proved Beyond a Reasonable Doubt for a criminal charge to stand up in a court of law,” the district attorney said. “Our office conducted a parallel investigation to that of the Waynesboro Police Department and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. None of the three agencies has established sufficient evidence to prove criminal intent by the standard required by law.”
According to media reports, the Waynesboro Police Department suspended a corporal for not obtaining Gardner’s identification, forcing authorities to track him down later. Cpl. Ronald Bartlett was reportedly demoted and put on six months of probation and retrained on juvenile-related calls.
