SEBASTIAN, Fla. (CBS12) — A woman is accused of leaving two kids in a hot car while she stole over $80 worth of groceries from a Walmart.
On Thursday, the Sebastian Police Department responded to the Walmart, located at 2001 US-1, after receiving reports of a woman who was accused of replacing the barcodes on grocery items.
An arrest affidavit against the woman says the Loss Prevention Associate (LPA) observed the woman walking to the self-checkout where she was seen scanning the items without the correct barcodes. The woman, identified as Katherine Gordon, then walked past all points of sale without any attempt to pay full price for the items.
Police say the merchandise recovered during the incident totaled $83.67.
Sebastian Police arrested Gordon outside Walmart, but she refused to speak with officers at the scene. The LPA at the scene told the investigating officer that he had mentioned children being inside of her vehicle. When officers went to her vehicle they found two children sitting inside the vehicle with the windows rolled up, allowing no airflow into the vehicle.
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In the arrest affidavit, it was noted that the weather channel said it was approximately 82 to 85 degrees outside between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
When officers opened the vehicle they felt a rush of heavy heat coming from the vehicle and heavy moisture on the interior of all the windows. Police say, the moisture on the windows is caused by no airflow and a build-up of carbon monoxide. The arrest affidavit against Gordon says the kids appeared to be sweating profusely.
The arrest report says, EMS checked the kid’s vitals and determined they were normal. When officers asked Gordon why she left the kids in the hot car she said, “she did not think it was a problem leaving the juveniles in the vehicle as long as it was not running, further adding that the juvenile’s parents do it all the time.” It’s unclear what the relationship was between Gordan and the two children.
Gordon was taken to the Indian River County Jail and booked on counts of child neglect without great bodily harm and second-degree petit theft.
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