A Texas couple was charged with child endangerment Thursday after a woman told Harris County sheriff’s deputies that she found their 8-week-old child in the middle of a parking lot, according to multiple reports.
A woman called police Tuesday night after finding the baby boy strapped to a car seat in a parking space in a Katy strip mall, the Houston Chronicle reported.
The child was cold and fussy by the time the woman who called police, Dee Griffin-Stevens, found him, according to KHOU.
“I just pictured my own children when they were that little,” she told the news station. “I call him ‘baby love,’ because I don’t know his name and probably won’t ever know his name, but I loved him and took care of him.”
Authorities estimated that the child was left for at least 45 minutes before he was found.
An employee at a nearby pizzeria recognized the infant and called his parents, according to KHOU.
Deputies arrested Sarah Shibley, 33, and Gary Collins, 39, on charges of child endangerment.
“Shibley, who works at the pizzeria, said she left the child in the parking lot where she works and thought his father placed him in a car,” KHOU reported.
Shilbey was released on $2,000 bond, according to the Chronicle. Collins remained jailed Friday.
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