VIDOR, Texas (AP) — A Southeast Texas woman who pleaded guilty to endangering a child after a 5-year-old she was baby-sitting fatally shot himself with her handgun has been arrested in Arkansas after violating her probation.
The Orange County sheriff’s office says Melissa Ringhardt was arrested Thursday in Russellville, Arkansas.
She was sentenced in February to four years of probation after pleading guilty. A warrant was issued for her in June after she failed to report to her probation officer.
In October 2013 she was watching 5-year-old John Read and a 6-month-old at their parents’ home in Vidor (VY’-dur), about 90 miles east of Houston. Authorities say she left the handgun on a living room table before taking a nap.
She later told authorities she was high on marijuana that day.
