FAR ROCKAWAY — The owner of an unlicensed day care center was arrested after she dropped off a 5-year-old girl outside of her building even though her mother wasn't home, police said Thursday.
The toddler, Essiah Love Miller, later wandered into a nearby bodega, unable to remember where she lived, officials said.
Trimeka Crum, 35, had struck an arrangement with Essiah's mother when she began caring for the girl last November to bring her home from daycare at the end of the day and either deliver her up to her apartment where she could stay with an older sibling — or to call the girl's mother and have someone pick up the girl outside the apartment, according to the Queens DA.
But on Wednesday, Crum admitted she just dropped Essiah off outside of her building, waiting two minutes before leaving.
Essiah then wandered into The Brothers Supermarket at 13-27 Central Ave. at 6:30 p.m., unable to remember where she lived. The bodega is a tenth of a mile from the girl's home, and she had to cross busy Central Avenue to get to it, the DA said.
Miller was reunited with her family by 11:30 p.m.
Crum — who police said watched a few children although she is not a licensed day care provider — was arrested early Thursday for acting in a manner injurious to a child.
She was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Thursday afternoon and faces up to a year in prison if convicted.
