A 27-year-old Ledyard woman was arrested Saturday after police said she left her 3-year-old child home alone while she went to work.

Courtney Yvonne Richard of 55 Fanning Road was charged with risk of injury to a minor and falsely reporting an incident.

According to town police, the Mashantucket Tribal Police found the child wandering in the roadway after dark. Officers went to the child's home and found nobody there. They learned from neighbors that the child lived there with her mother and maternal grandparents.

Two hours later, the police said they located the mother at her workplace. She initially claimed a relative was watching the child, but recanted the statement after police located the relative, police said.

Police contacted the state Department of Children and Families, which placed the child in the father's care.