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Parents arrested in two separate cases for leaving child in hot car in Lake Wales

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Published  August 30, 2024 5:35pm EDT
Lake Wales
FOX 13 News

LAKE WALES, Fla. - The Lake Wales Police Department is investigating two separate cases of parents leaving their child in a hot car within just the last two weeks.

According to investigators, on Thursday, Aug. 29, Jykerria Allen, 29, left her three-year-old child unattended in the back of her car in the parking lot while she went to a medical appointment.

"The clinic staff told her 'we don't have the supervision to leave your kid here while we treat you,' so the mother lied to the clinic staff and said she had a family member who was going to care for the child while receiving the treatment," said LWPD Lt. Dale Hampton.

RELATED: Polk County father accused of leaving 3-year-old in hot car while grocery shopping

Police said Allen left her child there for nearly an hour and the internal temperature of the car was reportedly 93 degrees.

"When these cars are parked out in the parking lots a lot of times, they're on a black top, so it creates a hotter environment and then when the car is baking in the sun, the internal temperature of that car is going to be 10-15 degrees hotter," said Hampton.

In another incident on Aug. 16, 70-year-old father, Sauveur Desulme, went grocery shopping while his three-year-old child was unattended in the car for 20 minutes. Investigators said the windows were cracked three inches and the engine was off.

"Once we got to the kid, the kid was drenched in sweat," Hampton said. 

READ: Campus monitor at Pinellas County high school arrested on sexual battery charge: Police

When questioned, Desulme said the child misbehaves inside stores, and that's why he left him in the car. 

KidsandCarSafety.org, a non-profit that tracks hot car deaths across the United States, reports 27 children have died so far this year. 

The two suspects were charged with child neglect, which is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Neither child was seriously hurt or suffered heat-related illnesses in either case.

"It's very important to carry your child inside the establishment you're going to and do not, for no period of time is it okay to leave your child inside the vehicle unattended," said Hampton.

Allen's bond was set at $5,200.

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