26-year-old Makayla Lynn Wilson from Sioux Falls, has been charged with motor vehicle theft, a felony, in Nobles County Fifth District Court.
Her arrest followed a report of a stalled vehicle blocking the entrance to the Adrian rest area.
The vehicle, a stolen Dodge Durango, was found unoccupied and filled with trash, melted food, and children’s clothing.
Wilson was uncooperative and argumentative with the responding trooper and claimed to have borrowed the Durango from a friend whose name she did not know.
However, investigations revealed that she had stolen a Dodge Caravan registered to her mother earlier that day.
The trooper questioned Wilson, who confessed to stealing the Caravan and leaving it at an automotive repair shop in Beresford before taking the Durango.
She claimed to be traveling to North Carolina to visit a friend.
The missing child with Wilson was taken into protective custody, and she now faces a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine if convicted.