‘Take the child with you’: SAPD offer advice after multiple arrests for children left home alone

What appears to be a recent wave of cases involving children left home alone has prompted some words of advice from San Antonio police.

“The child should come first over your convenience, so if you’re running to the corner store, just take the child with you,” said Det. Lisa Lamanna with SAPD.

Lamanna, who works in the Special Victims Unit, has seen the effects on children who are left to fend for themselves.

“They’re very scared. Sometimes, they’re very soiled,” she said.

The detective sat down to talk to KSAT 12 News in the wake of a series of arrests related to child abandonment charges.

Earlier this week, Balcones Heights police arrested Mariana Soto Montezuma, 22, who they say left two young relatives on their own in an apartment on Gentleman Road.

An arrest affidavit says a worker who showed up to collect on an overdue bill discovered the 5-year-old boy and 4-year-old girl alone inside the home after the boy opened the door.

It says Soto Montezuma, who is the aunt of the children, was arrested when she returned home later.

About a week prior to that, Bexar County deputies arrested Shaquitta Evans, 36, who they say left three children, ages two, eight and 11, home alone.

The arrest affidavit says a neighbor alerted deputies after one of the children showed up begging for food.

The affidavit says the children had access only to canned foods and frozen meat inside their own home.

Last month, the sheriff’s office announced the arrests of two other women, Nataly Perez, 23, and Amber Robisheaux, 40, who allegedly left four children home alone while they went out on a crime spree.

San Antonio police arrested Passion Williams, 28, in October, who they say also left four children to fend for themselves in the common area of a Northeast side apartment complex.

The detective said state law does not dictate how old a child must be in order to be left home alone, although the recommendation is that they not be younger than a 5-year-old.

Lamanna said when it comes to deciding when to make an arrest, police will look at multiple factors.

“If they have access to food, access to call for an emergency,” Lamanna said. “A lot of it has to do with maturity levels. Some 10-year-olds, 12-year-olds aren’t as mature as other 10- or 12-year-olds.”

Lamanna said although she has heard a whole list of excuses from the adults involved in cases like this, there really is no excuse for abandoning a child.

“If anybody is struggling with finding childcare, there are resources available. They can go to the Department of Family and Protective Services’ website,” she said.

More of this story on KSAT:

• Balcones Heights PD: Woman arrested after 2 young children found alone in apartment
• Affidavit: West Bexar County mother arrested after leaving hungry children to fend for themselves
• 2 women accused of theft in west Bexar Co., 1 arrested for child abandonment, sheriff’s office says
• Woman accused of abandoning 3 kids at North Side apartment lobby, SAPD says