Wow. What an idiot. -OIRH Rock Hill mom accused of leaving 1-year-old son in bushes

ROCK HILL — A Rock Hill mother who had recently been released from jail is back behind bars after police say she left her 1-year-old son in the bushes in front of her mother’s home.

Kelly Denise Cameron, 20, is charged with unlawful neglect of a child. She is being held at the York County Detention Center on a $50,000 bond, according to police documents.

Early Thursday, police responded to a Furr Street home around 2:50 a.m. after neighbors complained about hearing gunshots in the area, according to a Rock Hill police report.

At the same time, officers received a call about a neighbor in the same area finding a baby boy in the bushes in front of a house, said Lt. Brad Redfearn with the Rock Hill Police Department.

When officers arrived, Redfearn said they found the boy strapped in a stroller that had been pushed into the bushes. Officers knocked on the door and spoke with the homeowner, 61, and her daughter, 36.

After speaking with the women, police realized that Cameron — the 36-year-old woman’s daughter — called to ask her mother if she could leave her son with her. The mother said “no,” Redfearn said.

The police report states that Cameron’s mother refused to allow her daughter’s boyfriend, 28-year-old Joshua Randall Haskett, stay with them because he was a “bad influence for Kelly.” Cameron’s mother told police that “Kelly would never leave her child.”

Cameron’s mother and grandmother “had no clue the baby was out there,” Redfearn said.

Police found a diaper bag, filled with Cameron’s wallet, Social Security card and cell phone, along with gloves, clothing items, Q-tips and alcohol cleansing pads, sitting at the back door. They also found two notes written to Kelly from an unknown person saying that they missed her.

“We weren’t sure if she had been abducted,” Redfearn said.

Police entered Cameron into the National Crime Information Center as a missing person.

At 8 a.m., police found Cameron at her mother and grandmother’s Furr Street home and realized that “she went and met with the boyfriend,” Redfearn said.

“She fessed up to everything,” Redfearn said.

Police say nothing ever came of the shots fired investigation. The Department of Social Services took the child into custody.

In June, Cameron and her boyfriend, Haskett, were both arrested after a guest at a Rock Hill hotel said the two tried to rob him while he was on the phone with police about an unrelated incident, according to a Rock Hill police report.

The victim, 19, told police he was standing on the balcony outside his hotel room talking on the phone when Haskett and Cameron approached him with a child.

As they continued to walk toward him, the man said he told them that he was on the phone with the police. Haskett replied, “I’m going to rob you,” the report states.

The victim quickly opened his room door, ran inside and locked it. Officers questioned Haskett and Cameron while they were still on the balcony.

They both said they met the man previously when he gave them a ride in his car.

They said they were “friends” with the victim, the report states. They also said their child was downstairs in a room.

Police arrested Haskett and Cameron after they asked the victim to step out of his room and identify the couple. Haskett was charged with attempted robbery and Cameron was charged with criminal conspiracy.