Parents Punished Daughter By Leaving Her In A Locked Car While They Shopped At Home Depot
On Tuesday in Albuquerque, New Mexico, two parents locked their five-year-old daughter in a pickup truck and went shopping in Home Depot to punish the child because she didn’t ‘eat her lunch.’ Luckily, a passerby broke into the truck, pulled the girl out, and called the police who arrived on the scene to arrest the parents. It was 90 degree weather and people in the parking lot her the little girl screaming from inside the car. Both parents, Angelica Lerma-Montoya and Dulces Monge-Perezappeared in court Wednesday, facing felony charges of child abuse with great bodily harm. They remain in jail on $40,000 bond.
After the customer hauled the child out of the car, they brought her into the store and gave her water before police arrived. The truck’s windows weren’t even rolled down a crack. The parents continued shopping at Home Depot for an additional 45 minutes while police waited for them outside and their daughter was taken to the hospital to be treated for heat exhaustion. The parents first told police that they were unaware their daughter had accompanied them on the trip. The little girl told police she was being punished for not eating her food earlier that day.
From KOAT.com:
One of their daughters, 19-year-old Anna Monge, said the parents didn’t know the girl was in the truck. She said the 5-year-old always follows her parents and sometimes they don’t notice she’s around. She said her parents have always taken good care of their six children, ranging ages 3 months to 19 years old.
Four of those children, including the 5-year-old, are in the custody of the Children, Youth and Families Department.
Um, she always follows her parents and sometimes they don’t notice she’s around? That doesn’t sound like good care being taken to me. And five-year-olds are pretty honest little beings. They may tell you they have a monster under the bed or the cat knocked over the vase, but if you ask them a flat out question they have a hard time making up factual sounding lies that make sense, as in “I was being punished for not eating my lunch.” Plus, I can’t think of a single five-year-old when stopping anywhere doesn’t ask to come in with mom or dad. I’m glad this story ended well and I keep thinking it may have been a Mommyish reader who rescued this girl, because from previous comments I know a lot of you have stated you would break into a car to get a kid out, and I would too.
(Image: KOAT video)
