Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
A young Florida woman has been arrested for child neglect after her three-year-old kid was found asleep on the pavement and her two other youngsters were discovered alone in her flat while she was out partying at a nightclub.
The incident took place in the city of Fort Walton Beach in Okaloosa County in the US state of Florida at around 1am on 30th April.
Shyla Heidelberg, 25, has been charged with three counts of child neglect without great bodily harm after her three children were found alone while she went to a nightclub.
The mother returned home and told the cops that she visited the nightclub about 90 minutes earlier.
The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) said in a statement on 1st May: “The discovery of a three-year-old child asleep on a concrete sidewalk at one in the morning led to three counts of child neglect without great bodily harm for a Fort Walton Beach area woman.
“The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office was called to Gibson Street around one a.m. Saturday morning after a security officer found a three-year-old wrapped in a blanket asleep on a sidewalk.”
As well as the youngster being found asleep on the pavement, the police discovered that the suspect’s two other children were left unattended as well.
OCSO said: “Subsequent investigation led to the discovery of two more young children asleep alone in an apartment at the complex.
“25-year old Shyla Heidelberg was arrested for child neglect after she returned to the apartment and admitted she had gone out to a nightclub about 90 minutes earlier, leaving the children unattended.”
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at least one in seven children have experienced child neglect or abuse in the country, adding that 1,750 youngsters died from neglect or abuse in the US in 2020.
