Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
CHARLESTON — The case against a woman and her boyfriend came to a close Oct. 30, months after the pair allowed their 1-year-old, drug-positive toddler to wander a West Ashley parking lot in nothing but a diaper. Weeks after her partner pleaded guilty, the mother of the child, Taylor Danielle Gallagher, 32, was ordered to serve two years on probation in connection to the March incident. She pleaded to unlawful conduct toward a child, a felony offense that could have resulted in up to 10 years’ imprisonment. The first six months of her probation will be intensive with zero tolerance along with court-ordered mental health and substance abuse treatment. Gallagher will also be required to fully cooperate with the state Department of Social Services and attend parenting classes, Circuit Judge Jennifer McCoy ordered. Gallagher’s partner, Elio Acanfora Jr., 32, was sentenced Oct. 16 to nearly seven years in prison in relation to a number of charges, a few of which he was arrested for while on bond for child neglect charges. Shortly after 5 p.m. March 3, deputies responded to a parking lot near Wolf Track Bar & Grill, 1807 Parsonage Road. When authorities arrived, they found an abandoned 1-year-old in a diaper, according to a warrant affidavit. An investigation revealed that the toddler was Gallagher’s child. She later told officers that she’d been asleep in the passenger seat of a vehicle that had been parked nearby, said Assistant Solicitor Lauren Frierson. Her boyfriend, Acanfora, had gotten out of the car and gone into a store. Deputies patrolling near the store were familiar with him and spoke with Acanfora prior to finding the abandoned child, Frierson said. After the unrelated interaction with deputies, Acanfora got back into the car with Gallagher, looked into the backseat and saw that the toddler was not there. He left the scene anyway, as his driver’s license was suspended and he was concerned authorities would find out, the prosecutor explained. The pair then left the scene and went back to their home, located less than half a mile from the parking lot, court records show. During an exam performed at the Medical University of South Carolina hospital, officials determined that the 1-year-old tested positive for fentanyl, affidavits state. Fentanyl is an FDA-approved synthetic opioid prescribed for pain relief. It is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin. The toddler has been doing well in foster care since the incident, said Frierson. Both Gallagher and Acanfora were arrested on March 4 and each charged with one count of unlawful conduct towards a child. The pair were both granted bail the same day, though neither immediately posted the amounts for release. At the time of his arrest, Acanfora had been out on bond on two shoplifting charges and a drug possession charge, according to inmate records. Then, after again receiving bond and being released from custody in connection to the child-neglect charge, Acanfora was arrested for second-degree burglary. He broke into a woman’s storage unit and stolen a flatscreen TV, according to an affidavit. Gallagher told the judge she is no longer involved with Acanfora. She is a mother of five and has since gotten back together with the toddler’s birth father, said her defense attorney Kaitlyn Watson. It is very likely that DSS will allow Gallagher to be reunited with her child, both parties said.
