Father Arrested After 2-Month-Old Found Abandoned in Car Seat in Cold Weather

Father Arrested After 2-Month-Old Found Abandoned in Car Seat in Cold Weather
(AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Epoch Newsroom
12/13/2016
Updated:
12/13/2016

A California man was arrested after he allegedly left his baby daughter inside a car seat in cold-weather temperatures, officials said.

Authorities told CBS Los Angeles this week that a Good Samaritan called police who ended up apprehending the 4-month-old girl’s father. The Samaritan, Damien Tilly, said the crying baby was found in a car parked outside a home.

“It was pretty cold. I mean the baby was cold. Flush red. It was out there for like an hour, total,” Tilly said.

He said he yelled for 20 minutes to grab the attention of whoever was inside the home but got no answer. Then, he called 911.

“This is a mountain area, there’s coyotes, mountain lions, all sorts of things here. Bobcats. It’s pretty rough terrain,” Tilly told CBS.

In the incident, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s arrived at a rural home on Saturday night, finding the father inside with three other children—aged 2, 3, and 4, department spokesman Miguel Ruiz told Inside Edition.

The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was found to be in good health, Ruiz said. The four children were placed in the custody of children’s services workers, he added.

The father and mother are separated, and the children were under the father’s care that day. Deputies went inside the home, finding that it was unsafe and called Child Protective Services, CBS reported.

Ruiz said the father was identified as Alejandro Vargas, 31, who was arrested on one child endangerment charge. He’s currently in custody, Inside Edition reported.

Vargas claimed he forgot that the baby was inside the car. And it’s unclear how long the child was outside—where temperatures dropped to 55 degrees Fahrenheit.