Easton Police charge woman for abandoning son in parking lot

EASTON — Chief Gary Sullivan reports that the Easton Police Department has charged a Maine mother with abandoning her son after the 17-month-old boy was left in a shopping carriage in a parking lot over the weekend.

A 27-YEAR-OLD WOMAN FROM ACTON, MAINE was charged with Abandonment/Endangerment of a Child. She is scheduled to appear in Taunton District Court at a later date. Her identity is being withheld to protect the identification of the victim in this case.

At approximately 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22, the Easton Police Department responded to Target, 41 Robert Drive, after receiving a call about a baby that was discovered in the store parking lot in a carriage by himself.

The reporting party was a customer of the store and stayed with the baby until officers arrived.

The child did not appear to be injured and was evaluated by members of the Easton Fire Department before being transported by ambulance to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton for an evaluation.

While investigating the incident, Easton Police received a call at approximately 2 p.m. from a male party reporting that the child had been left behind in the parking lot accidentally. The caller was with the CHILD’S MOTHER in Plymouth and said they were going to head back to Easton.

In subsequently speaking with detectives, the CHILD’S MOTHER said that after leaving Target she returned to her vehicle, along with three friends, and believed that one of her friends had secured her son in his rear-facing car seat. She then traveled to Plymouth in her vehicle, while her friends left in a separate vehicle. Upon arriving in Plymouth, the CHILD’S MOTHER realized that her son was not in the car seat.

The Easton Police Department notified the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, which launched its own investigation. In coordination with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, DCF granted custody of the child to the MOTHER later that evening.