Seven toddlers, ages ranging from two to four were left in a locked car on a hot day. One child, aged four, used a phone that was left in the car to contact 911. Although the child was unable to tell the dispatcher where the car was parked, law enforcement was able to trace the call to the mall parking lot at the St. Charles Towne Center in Maryland.
When law enforcement arrived on the scene, officers helped the children out of the vehicle and Charles County Fire and Emergency Medical Services provided treatment. After about ten minutes since authorities arrived, a woman returned to the car. She was the mother of two of the children present and babysitting the remaining five.
The woman had left the children in the car with the windows rolled up for at least twenty minutes, while the outdoor temperature reached to about 80 degrees. The woman claimed that she had stepped into the mall to use the bathroom, but security footage proved otherwise. Rather than going to the bathroom, the woman was caught browsing at shoes instead. She was arrested at the scene and has been charged with illegal confinement in a motor vehicle and possibly faces additional charges.