After being accused by the police of leaving their 2-year-old boy inside a heated car while they went shopping at the Target store in Aventura over the weekend, the couple is now in jail.
Melvin Alejandro Jaimes, 25, and Paola Palencia-Rodriguez, 24, are charged with one count each of child abuse without serious bodily harm and leaving a kid under the age of six alone in a car, according to an arrest report from the Aventura Police Department.
Just after 11 a.m. on Saturday, according to the police, a bystander saw Jaimes and Palencia-Rodriguez shopping at Target, which is located at 21265 Biscayne Blvd., and saw the youngster asleep in the car with the doors locked, the ignition off, and him sitting in his own vomit.
Aventura police were called to the scene after the 2-year-old was persuaded by the bystander to unlock the door, according to the authorities.
According to the investigation, the parents acknowledged leaving the youngster in the heated car with the windows up and the engine off. The child was in good health and was not taken to the hospital, according to the police, despite looking “sweaty, warm to the touch, awake, and crying.”
Investigators observed that there was an active tropical storm and tornado watch in the vicinity, and the temperature was in the low 90s at the time.
Surveillance footage, according to the police, showed the boy in the car between 11:15 and 11:45 a.m. for thirty minutes before he was found. According to them, the youngster was picked up by his grandmother, and the issue will be handled by the Department of Children and Families (DCF) when they were notified.
Both parents were taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after investigators determined they had no criminal background.
When Palencia-Rodriguez showed up in bond court on Monday morning, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer found probable cause to file the child abuse charges against her and forewarned her of the serious repercussions that she narrowly escaped.
Palencia-Rodriguez’s mother, Carmen Rodriguez, made an appearance via Zoom during the hearing. Palencia-Rodriguez has been in South Florida for four months now after moving from Spain.
Read Also:Â Man, 30, Arrested for Killing Ex-Girlfriend, 41, in Miami Apartment
Rodriguez defended her daughter by saying, “My daughter is a very good mother,” through a Spanish interpreter. Both the father and she have a lot of compassion. We absolutely adore this child, so I would like you to think twice before deciding to issue the stay-away order. They take responsibility extremely seriously. It was a sincere error, and people make mistakes.
Palencia-Rodriguez was given supervised visitation with her kid by Glazer, with the stipulation that the supervisor could not be the child’s father. While accepting the arrangement, the authorities forbade overnight visits.
Palencia’s bond was set by Glazer at $2,500, and she was instructed to never, not even for a half-minute, leave a child unsupervised in a car. Jaimes said, “I’ve been living in the country for four months,” in response to a question concerning his place of residence when he appeared in bail court. He added that he had previously resided in Spain and Mexico.
Glazer placed Jaimes’ bond at $2,500 and allowed him to have supervised visits with his child.
