Woman who put grandkids in kennels appears in court
A local grandmother at the center of a video trending across the country, Leimome Cheeks, made her first court appearance Monday; charged with two counts of child endangerment after a video showed her releasing her grandchildren from dog kennels in the back of her SUV.
Cheeks, 62, was ordered by General Sessions Court Judge Loyce Lambert Ryan to return to court on July 9 with an attorney.
Before her hearing began, Cheeks sat alone outside the courtroom, politely declining a request for an interview.
But she did admit to police that there was no room in her Ford Explorer on Saturday for the 7-year-old and 9-yearold children, who she drove from Whitehaven to Collierville — about a 25-mile trip — with the children in dog kennels.
A bystander witnessed her unloading the children, recorded her and contacted the police. Cheeks was arrested on Sunday at her home in Whitehaven and later posted a $100 bond.
The Commercial Appeal obtained a copy of the video. In it, a girl climbs out of a kennel from the back of a Ford Explorer that appears to be parked in front of the Graceland mansion in Whitehaven.
The children are not in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, but DCS is investigating the incident, Rob Johnson, a department spokesman, said Monday.
High temperatures reached 95 degrees on Saturday, and the police affidavit noted that there were no vents in the back of the SUV. The children told police it was hot in the back of the vehicle.
Cheeks told police she also drove them Downtown, but that she checked on them periodically. They were later allowed to ride in the backseat.