Louisiana Mom Claimed Son Was 'Kidnapped' While Fixing Tire, Before 'Awful Truth' Revealed: Sheriff

24-year-old Artasia Quantaya Viges was arrested this month and charged with cruelty to a juvenile, child desertion, and false swearing for the purpose of violating public health or safety, per Law & Crime.

According to a press release from the St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office, they responded to call regarding a kidnapped child on November 5, 2024, around 1am. At the time, per authorities, Viges claimed "individuals in an older model truck had kidnapped her son as she was parked on the roadway attending to a deflated tire."

The child was located "almost immediately," however, at a parking lot nearby "with abrasion injuries to his knees." The boy allegedly told officers his mother "ran him over" and then left him on the side of the road.

Considering the "vast disparity" between the mother's claims and her son's version of events, Juvenile Detectives were then called in to investigate what happened.

"A subsequent interview with Artasia Viges revealed the awful truth; there was no kidnapping and a young child was left unattended along a major roadway and allowed to run off in the night," the Sheriff wrote it its release.

"What started as a disagreement between a mother and a child became a bizarre reaction to the child having a tantrum," they claimed. "As the mother pulled the car over, the child, obviously not properly restrained, bailed out of the car before it came to a stop, resulting in the injuries to the child’s knees."

Authorities also say Viges then "chose to leave the child out of the car, allowing him to run off in the dark, along major roadways." The release states Viges "admitted" she didn't try to chase after him and "ultimately lost sight of him," leading to her arrest.

She's currently being held in the St. Landry Parish Jail on $200,000 bond, while the investigation remains ongoing.