‘Are You Missing a Kid?’: Video Shows Florida Cops Arresting Mom Accused of Leaving 3-Year-Old Alone to Wander Apartment Complex for Hours While Getting Cosmetic Surgery
Police arrested a Florida mother for allegedly leaving her 3-year-old child unattended at an apartment complex while she was mere miles away undergoing a cosmetic procedure.
Neighbors called police to the complex in Doral, Florida, on June 27 after seeing the boy wandering around unsupervised with nothing but a cellphone. One resident told authorities she called 911 after she found the child sleeping at her doorstep.
Bodycam footage captured the moments when police officers encountered the boy and their efforts to track down his parents.
“Hey, little buddy, what’s your name?” an officer asked the child. “Do you know where you live? Do you know where Papi and Mami are?”
Bodycam video shows the officers going door-to-door to several apartments to try to locate the child’s parents.
“Hello, by any chance, are you missing a kid?” an officer asked one child.
One resident who spoke with an officer said, “This is like the girl, the lady that left her daughter to go on vacation.”
“Yes,” a neighbor responded.
Police eventually found the boy’s mother, 25-year-old Jessica Renteria, down the street at a nearby surgery center.
According to an arrest report, Renteria told officers that she left the boy in a friend’s care for the day while she was at the center getting a procedure. However, the friend denied her claim, telling police, “he knows the defendant, but at no point in time was he told to take care of a juvenile.”
Renteria was taken into custody with bandages around her face, presumably from her procedure, and was charged with child neglect.
Authorities learned that Renteria, originally from DeLand, Florida, was staying at an Airbnb with her son in Doral.
Police discovered the boy was left alone for six hours after Renteria left the complex.
According to WSVN, surveillance footage showed Renteria left her vacation rental at 10 a.m. Three hours later, her son was captured walking outside. Police weren’t called to the complex until 4:15 p.m. that day.
Senteria was released from jail on a $1,000 bond. Her trial is set for Dec. 2.