Grandmother charged with transporting kids in dog kennels

Marc Perrusquia | The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal

Show Caption Hide Caption Grandmother charged with child neglect Leimome Cheeks, 62,was charged Sunday with two counts of child endangerment after a bystander saw her unlatching two grandchildren from pet kennels.

MEMPHIS — A Tennessee woman captured on video helping a young girl exit the back of an SUV from a small pet kennel was charged with child endangerment Sunday.

Leimome Cheeks, 62, was charged with two counts of child endangerment after a bystander recorded her unlatching two grandchildren from pet kennels.

Grandma arrested for transporting children in dog kennels A grandmother in Memphis, Tennessee was caught transporting her two grandchildren in dog crates in the back of her car.

According to police reports, Cheeks drove the kennel-bound kids for miles around Memphis on Saturday.

"Leimome Cheeks was interviewed and admitted to riding from Whitehaven (a Memphis neighborhood) to Collierville with the children in the kennel,'' a police affidavit says. "Cheeks further advised they also drove downtown, however she checked on the children periodically and later removed them from the kennel and put them in the rear seats of her vehicle.''

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According to the affidavit, Cheeks said "there was no room inside the Ford Explorer earlier in the day,'' so she "told them to get inside the kennel.''

The report notes the temperature "reached 95 degrees and there were no vents in the rear of the Ford Explorer.''

Cheeks was being held Sunday afternoon in the Shelby County (Tenn.) Jail.

The video, obtained by The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal, shows a girl climbing out of a kennel from the back of a Ford Explorer that appears to be parked in front of the Graceland mansion in Whitehaven.

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