LENEXA, Kan. – A mother of a two-year-old boy has been charged after police say she abandoned her child in a dangerous environment for several hours on Monday.
On Tuesday Alejandra Delpilar Pilar Garces, 37, was charged with the aggravated endangerment of a child after she allegedly left her two-year-old child alone while she went to school at Johnson County Community College.
Police said they were notified by a neighbor and discovered Garces had left the child inside of a home with an electric space heater plugged in and running, on the “high” setting, for approximately seven hours.
“I heard a child crying, but I didn’t really think anything of it,” said neighbor Meia Turner. “I waited another 20 minutes, I knocked on the door, rang the bell, no one ever came to the door.”
Turner then called police after she saw the little boy crying in the front living room window. The child was found crawling around inside of the home. Police said it was Garces’ intention to be gone from the house all day.
“We’re certainly very grateful that the neighbors did call, because otherwise that child would’ve been left unattended, presumably for the entire day,” said Master Patrol Officer Dan Friesen with the Lenexa Police Department said.
Garces appeared in Johnson County District Court on Tuesday, she’s due in court again on May 15. The child is currently in the custody of the state.