Mom Left Girl, 6, in Hot Car at Walmart, Police Say

An Allentown woman endangered her 6-year-old daughter when she left her sleeping in a locked car with the windows up while she shopped in the Bethlehem Township Walmart, police said.

Patricia E. Fuentes, 28, of 862 Lincoln Drive, was charged Monday with endangering the welfare of children—a week after the alleged incident in the parking lot outside the Walmart on Linden Street.

In an affidavit of probable cause, Bethlehem Township Patrolman William Stanton wrote that he responded to the Walmart at a little after 4 p.m. after someone called to complain about a child being left locked in a white sedan.

Stanton wrote that he tried to gain access to the vehicle, which had its doors locked and its windows shut. He wrote that he could see the child sleeping in the back seat, but when he knocked and banged on the windows to get the girl’s attention, she did not respond.

The temperature outside was in the mid 80s, police said.

Stanton wrote that he was attempting to break the driver’s side window when Fuentes emerged from the store.

Fuentes told Stanton that she had only been in the store for a few minutes, according to the affidavit. But Stanton said that he verified with a store manager that Fuentes had been inside for 18 minutes.

Fuentes was arraigned before District Judge Joseph Barner of Bethlehem Township and released on $5,000 unsecured bail.

There have been 13 heat stroke deaths of children left in hot cars so far this year, according to San Francisco State University. Such deaths average 37 per year in the United States.

According to WebMD, a child should never be left in a hot car for any period of time, no matter how brief. Children can sicken from heat stroke quickly as the temperature in a car can rise to life-threatening levels when it's only 70 degrees outside.

If you see a child alone in a hot vehicle, call 911 immediately, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.