Hall County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a man and woman on Thursday, May 21, for abandoning three boys while the two were running away from a traffic stop.
Zachary Allen Scott Franklin, 20, and Justice Breanna Dermire, 22, both of Gainesville, are each charged with three counts of first-degree cruelty to children. Franklin is also being held on a Superior Court probation warrant, according to the sheriff’s office.
On Wednesday, May 20, at approximately 5 p.m., Sheriff’s Deputies spotted Franklin and three children in a car driven by Dermire. Franklin was a suspect in several theft cases under investigation by the Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies attempted a traffic stop, but Dermire accelerated away and pulled her car into a driveway on Redwood Circle, a short distance away. The adults got out of the car, took the three children into the woods, abandoned them and ran away. Deputies found the children crying and screaming, but they were not injured.
The children, three boys who are all ten-years-old, were released to family. Dermire is the stepmother to two of them. The third boy is a friend of the other two children.
Deputies arrested Dermire on Thursday, May 21, at approximately 9 a.m. at a residence in the 5200 block of North Forest Boulevard. Franklin was arrested about an hour later in the 4900 block of Thompson Bridge Road.
Sheriff’s Office Investigators, Patrol Deputies and members of the Warrants and Active Criminal Enforcement Units (ACE) were all involved in the case.
Both suspects remained in the Hall County Jail on Friday, May 22.
The case remains under investigation by the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. No further details are being released at this time.
