Two women face charges of child endangerment after they are accused of leaving two young children inside a vehicle while they went shopping, Brownsville police said.
The women told police they had two phones and left one of them inside the vehicle so the children could call them if they needed anything, Investigator Martin Sandoval, spokesman for Brownsville Police Department, said.
Police found both phones inside the vehicle, which indicated that the women had failed to take one of the phones with them, Sandoval said.
Maria Muniz, 44, and Linda Garcia, 21, are each charged with one count of child abandon/endanger w/intent to return. The women were arraigned, and each received a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.
The incident happened at about 2:47 p.m. at the 300 block of East 12th Street Dec. 10 where police responded to a call of two children left inside a white Dodge Journey.
Police found the SUV and noticed the front driver and passenger windows covered with blankets, Sandoval said. One officer spotted a child inside and asked him to open the door, which the child did.
Two phones were also found inside the SUV, and the 11-year-old told the officers he was to call the other phone if he needed anything, Sandoval said. A one-year-old was also inside the vehicle.
Sandoval said when the officer asked her about the other cell phone, both Muniz and Garcia realized that the other phone stayed in the car.
The women arrived at the location at about 3:25 p.m. and Muniz admitted she left the children inside the vehicle for about 30 minutes while she and Garcia went shopping, Sandoval said, and that the children had a phone should they need to call her.
Officers requested to see the downtown video surveillance system and learned that Muniz and Garcia left to go shopping at 2:26 p.m. They did not return to the vehicle until 59 minutes later, police said.
