Cops: Mom hired Craigslist stranger to get son to grandparents

A Georgia mother planned to send her 9-year-old to visit his grandparents. But she had no plans of driving the child to their town herself, according to police.

Instead, Sheila Sherrie Joyner allegedly turned to the online website Craigslist, where she answered an ad from a man looking to share expenses while traveling to Florida. Joyner, of Marietta, Ga., didn’t know the Craigslist poster, who got concerned about the woman’s plans and called police, according to a Cobb County arrest warrant.

“At no time did accused get any information about this stranger and only communicated by text messages,” the warrant states. “Accused didn’t even know the last name of the stranger but only knew him as ‘Eric.’”

An undercover officer responded to Joyner and made arrangements to pick up the child Friday, according to the warrant.

“Said accused had the child brought to the RaceTrac on Delk Road by the babysitter and accused didn’t even go with the child to meet the ‘stranger,’” police stated in the warrant. “The accused lied to the babysitter, indicating that it was a friend of hers.”

Joyner was arrested Friday afternoon at her apartment and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Cobb County booking records show. Her bond was set at $1,000, but she remained in jail Tuesday for allegedly not appearing in court in an unrelated case, jail records show.