A Solsberry woman is accused of taking a child with her to serve as her lookout while she poured sugar into the gas tank of a female rival for the attentions of a man.

Shannon R. Sullivan, 34, was arrested by Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy David Elmore late Wednesday, June 27, after a warrant was issued for her arrest earlier in the day.

Deputy Elmore took the initial report, investigated and prepared the probable cause affidavit in this case.

The incident, believed to have occurred in the wee hours of Thursday, June 14, was reported by a woman who owned a 1996 Jeep.

The woman told the officer that when she was backing out of her driveway to leave for work around 9 a.m., she saw her gas cap fall off the roof of her Jeep. She stopped to put the cap back on and saw sugar around the gas cap area on the Jeep and on the ground where she was parked.

The woman suspected her cousin, Shannon Sullivan, was the culprit because: The two had been in an ongoing disagreement over a man; Sullivan was visiting at the neighbor’s house the previous day and night; The woman’s daughter had awakened her around 2 a.m. to tell her Sullivan was in their house and on the victim’s phone – Sullivan allegedly slammed the phone down and ran out the door when the woman walked into the room.

Later in the day, it came to light that the neighbor’s 12-year-old child had confessed that after the phone incident, Sullivan had allegedly taken the child along on the sugar-pouring trip.

Deputy Elmore interviewed several individuals during the investigation including the child who said Sullivan went into the woman’s house to check the woman’s cell phone while she was asleep, and deleted text messages from the man.

According to Elmore, the child told him Sullivan got the sugar from the neighbor’s house, took the child with her to watch out so she wouldn’t get caught, and told the child not to tell anybody. Then Sullivan allegedly used a cup and a makeshift funnel to pour a goodly amount of sugar from two different bags into the Jeep’s gas tank.

Elmore also spoke to the child’s mother who said this incident occurred while she was asleep and that her child had been scared to tell the truth at first, afraid of getting into trouble.

Sullivan’s bond was set at $4,000 surety with ten percent allowed. She posted $400 cash and was released on Thursday, June 28.

When she appears in Greene Superior Court for her initial hearing on Monday, she will be charged with:

Contributing to the delinquency of a minor – where the crime is a misdemeanor and the child is under the age of 16, a Level 6 felony
Criminal mischief, a Class B misdemeanor