Boy, 2, Left Unattended in Walmart Parking Lot, Police Say

A Wilson woman left a 2-year-old boy unattended and sleeping in her car for a half hour Sunday while she was inside the Walmart on Linden Street in Bethlehem Township, police said.

Shahara T. Rivera, 28, of 2134 Freemansburg Ave., was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of children when she returned to the car. Police called the mother of the boy—who Rivera described as the son of a close family friend—to come pick the child up, according to an arrest affidavit.

Store personnel called police to the scene after a customer witness returned to her car to find Rivera’s car in the next parking space. The boy was sleeping in a child safety seat, the car windows were open and the radio was playing. The woman told police she waited for 20 minutes before going back inside to tell store managers.

Two other parking lot witnesses corroborated that story, police said.

Rivera contended to police that she had done nothing wrong—that she had only been in the store for five minutes and the child was sleeping.

Police then checked store surveillance video and determined that Rivera had been inside the store for about a half hour before returning to her car, according to the affidavit.

Rivera was arraigned before on-duty District Judge Diane Marakovits in Northampton and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $5,000 bail.