Woman released on bond following drug, child endangerment charges

    A Jasper County woman is out of jail on bond after the sheriff says her child was found wandering the street alone and investigators discovered methamphetamine in her home where the family kept 22 snakes.

   The Jasper County Sheriff's Office says Tamara Jones, 28, of Buna, was released from jail Thursday on $75,000 bond following charges of endangerment of a child by criminal neglect and possession of a controlled substance. 

   Sheriff Mitchell Newman tells KFDM News a deputy was sent to CR 757 in Buna on the afternoon of Tuesday, March 17 because neighbors expressed concern for the welfare of a two year old they say was wandering the street alone.  The deputy says the child wasn't hurt. 

   A lieutenant in the Sheriff's Office was called to help find the parent.  He says he was met at the door of the child's home by Tamara Jones.  The lieutenant says the woman didn't know where her son was.

   Investigators say Jones gave the lieutenant permission to enter the residence where he found a small amount of methamphetamine and a large number of live snakes.

   "Some of the snakes were in cages and one was about eight feet long," Sheriff Newman told KFDM News.  "One was in a box, dead." 

   "They could still have some snakes hidden in there because my officers really didn't want to look too closely," said Newman.  "We didn't stick our hands in there." 

  Child Protective Services is investigating.

  Newman says the boy has been placed with his grandmother pending the outcome of the investigation.

  Tamara Jones called KFDM News Friday afternoon to offer her side of the story and explain the allegations against her.

  "I had just had a tooth pulled Monday and was given anesthesia, and I was up with my son all morning Tuesday," Jones told KFDM News by phone. "I laid down to take a nap while he was sleeping. He's very smart and he got up and unlocked the back door and opened it. My husband was at work. My son had barely made it around the corner."

 Jones admits there was methamphetamine in her home but says it was left there by someone else.

 "Someone staying in my home had left the meth," said Jones. "I'm not denying it was there. I just hadn't had the chance to do anything with it. I had a bad injury to my knee and then the dental visit and I just hadn't gotten up and moving around that good yet. I didn't just want to toss it in the garbage where my kids could get to it. It might have been there about a week. It wasn't out in the open for the children to get access to. We don't use or sell drugs."

 Jones says her family collects snakes and she has a lot of them, but wonders what that has to do with the allegations against her. She says the snakes pose no danger to her two year old son and six year old daughter.

 "I have two, 8 foot Colombian red-tailed boas, corn snakes, king snakes. There are padlocks on the cages and the snakes are in a room by themselves. I enjoy collecting snakes. My children are well educated about them. Me and my husband are always around when the snakes are out."