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March 31, 2008
Police Say Tampa Woman Left Her Infant Home Alone
Topics: News
TAMPA - Sunday evening, Maila Martinez left her 1-month-old daughter home alone for about two hours, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies found out about it whey they showed up at 5502 Pine Forest Court in Tampa with her boyfriend.
Yunior Perez, 29, had been released from jail hours earlier after being arrested for a domestic battery incident involving Martinez the previous day, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Debbie Carter. Perez, Carter said, asked deputies to accompany him as he returned to gather his belongings. When Perez and the deputies arrived, they found the baby in a car seat on a bed and no sign of Martinez.
This is what happened next, Carter said:
Deputies waited at the residence for 30 minutes until Martinez, 31, returned after someone at the apartment building told her that deputies were in her apartment.
The baby girl was alone at least two hours.
Martinez explained that she went out to "use the phone," Carter said.
After Martinez was arrested on a charge of child neglect, she acknowledged leaving the baby alone, according to a police report.
Martinez is being held at Orient Road Jail. Bail was set at $2,000, according to jail records.
The baby, whose name is not being released, was taken by child protective services.
Editor Howard Altman can be reached at (813) 259-7629 or haltman@tampatrib.com.
Posted by admin at March 31, 2008 5:58 PM
