TAMPA, Fla. (NewsNation Now) — A 74-year-old dementia patient walked away from her Tampa-area nursing home and end up in county jail last week after police picked the woman up on an outstanding warrant from nearly a decade ago.

It’s a distressing notion for Megan Donahue, who says her mother, Gwen Donahue, is in poor physical and mental health and doesn’t pose a risk to the public.

“When she wakes up in the morning, she doesn’t know where she is,” her daughter Meghan Donahue said. “She probably thinks she’s done something wrong and we’ve abandoned her.”

Donahue said her mother wandered off from her Dade City nursing home Wednesday. She apparently made it three miles away before Dade City officers found her. The officers also found a 2011 arrest warrant out of Sumter County when they ran her name, and later booked her into the county jail.

Meghan Donahue called the warrant, which she had no knowledge of, a “huge shock.”

“My mom has no priors, she’s just this little old Catholic lady,” she said. “My mom shouldn’t have to spend another minute there.”

Donahue said the warrant is from an old DUI. Her mother paid the fines and completed the community service but apparently overlooked a two-hour online course. She was booked without bond so she cannot be released until a judge signs off on the release.

NewsNation affiliate WFLA reached out to both the Dade City Police Department and the Pasco Sheriff’s Office who both described their hands as tied. It would have been illegal for the Dade City officers to ignore the warrant. Pasco detention officers don’t have the power to get inmates out.

“Somebody should be looking out for the people that get caught up in the net and shouldn’t be there,” Megan Donahue said.

After nearly a week of calling authorities in both counties, a Sumter county judge finally signed a release order Monday afternoon, Meghan Donahue said. Her mother should be released at some point Tuesday night.

NewsNation affiliate WFLA contributed to this story.