An Oregon woman was arrested in Placentia for leaving her 2-year-old son in a locked car and letting her four other boys run around the parking lot of a 99 Cents Only store while she shopped inside, a sergeant said.
A Good Samaritan called police at 10:51 a.m. Sunday to tell them about the situation outside the store in the 1200 block of East Yorba Linda Boulevard, said Placentia Police Sgt. Bryce Angel.
“The lady who called waited a half hour to see if the mother came out,” Angel said.
“The officers not only find the young boy strapped in the car seat, they find four other little boys running around the parking lot,” he said. The boy inside the car was 2-years-old and his brothers were 3, 4, 5 and 6.
“The mother eventually came out of the 99 Cents store,” Angel said. “According to the mother, she left the 6-year-old in charge. I don’t think the older children were left in the car and got out, the car was locked.”
Thirty-six-year-old Rhonda Colgrove “was just passing through” en route from Texas back to Hermiston, Oregon, he said.
Colgrove was arrested and booked for child endangerment and released on citation, Angel said. The children were placed in protective custody at the Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange.
—City News Service