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US boy, 5, dies after foster mom leaves him in hot car for seven hours, police arrest her
The foster mother, responsible for the death of a faces charges of child abuse by neglect resulting in death, with her bond set at $2 million.
A five-year-old boy died after his foster mother left him in a hot car for seven hours in Omaha, Nebraska. Dionicio Perez was found unresponsive in the hot SUV parked outside a beauty salon where his foster mother, Juanita Pinon, worked.
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The woman parked her vehicle at around 10:30 am. The boy was taken out of the car at around 5 pm, and his body temperature was taken as being at 105F, reported Unilad.
He was then rushed to the hospital, where he was declared dead. The police then arrested the 40-year-old foster mother. She now faces charges of child abuse by neglect resulting in death, with her bond set at $2 million. Her next court appearance is scheduled for August 16. The woman had five other children in her care, the New York Post reported.
“The suspect did not provide a statement to declare whether it was an accident or intentional,” ABC News quoted Omaha police spokesperson Chris Gordon as saying.
What did the family say after the tragic loss?
After the tragic death of his son, his biological father Pablo Lopez and his stepmother Jenny, said that the state told them that he would be in good hands with a foster mother.
“The social worker told me that they were in good hands. They said they ran a concrete business, and the kids wouldn’t suffer,” Unilad quoted the couple as saying.
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“Why until that moment did they look for me, until he was dead. They could’ve done when he was alive, and they didn’t,” they added.
After losing his son, Lopez is working towards being granted the custody of Perez’s twin sister.
Perez' biological uncle Matthew Jesop, who was left devastated by the loss, said, “So many images come to my head, like, how many times have you done this before? How many times have you not met the needs of the kids that are in your care?”
