Mother accused of snatching son outside Canfield preschool

CANFIELD

A Toledo-area woman faces felonious assault, inducing panic and possibly other charges, accused of snatching her 2-year-old son from his grandmother Tuesday morning as the older woman was dropping the boy off at preschool.

Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene said the mother and the boy’s father share custody of the child, although the woman hadn’t arranged a recent visit.

The mother, Lauren Sawdey, 19, of Holland, Ohio, went to Ursuline Preschool on Shields Road, with her aunt, whose name wasn’t available, and hid in the bushes while the aunt waited in a vehicle.

When the grandmother arrived to drop the boy off, the two women argued and struggled over the boy with the argument moving into the vehicle.

The vehicle dragged the grandmother before she was pushed from it on Tippecanoe Road, Greene said.

The episode at the preschool caused a panic prompting the facility to go into a lockdown, the sheriff said.

The grandmother called 911 and the sheriff’s department responded.

Greene said the Ohio State Highway Patrol was contacted and the women were found in Michigan where the aunt lives. Both were arrested and await extradition to Mahoning County.

The boy’s father was driving to Michigan on Tuesday to pick up the boy and bring him home, Greene said. The boy wasn’t harmed.