WELLINGTON, Fla. – A Florida mother is facing a child neglect charge after police said she left her toddler daughter in a hot car outside a Wellington mall.
According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, deputies arrested Thamyres Ponce, 32, of Belle Glade, after someone reported seeing a child alone in a car about 4:15 p.m. Monday at the Mall at Wellington Green.
Deputies arrived to find a 2-year-old girl “sitting in the middle of the backseat, crying, sweating and distressed,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post. The car’s engine was not running, WPEC reported.
“Her mother was nowhere to be found,” the Facebook post read. “In fear of her life, our deputy immediately broke the driver’s side window and took the baby out of the car.”
Emergency responders treated the child, who had a 102-degree body temperature, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said Ponce, who was shopping at a Macy’s store, had left the girl alone in the car for about 25 minutes.
