Mother Facing Charges After She Left Baby In Car So She Could Buy A Donut

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There seem to be a few stories in the news of sleeping babies being left in a locked car – some parents feel it’s okay to do so if they needed to run into a store quickly to grab something.

Although most parents would not do it, it’s probably a fine line as to whether it’s right to have someone arrested if they chose to do it.

This is exactly where a new mom in Virginia finds herself after she left her sleeping baby in her car to run into a local convenience store to grab a quick donut – which took her 3 minutes.

According to a post on Scary Mommy, the new mom was battling postpartum depression and suffered from exhaustion and sleeplessness which only other new moms can really understand.

After a particularly bad night and very early morning wake up with her baby, she put her daughter in her car seat to drive her fiance to his work.

When Reilly fell asleep in the car while driving, DeStein decided to take advantage.

It was rather cold outside and a lot warmer in the car, so DeStein decided to leave her sleeping infant in the warmth of her car while she made a quick run into her local Wawa to grab herself a donut. She said she parked her car right in front of the store so she could have eyes on it at all times.

When she returned from the store, a man in tactical gear was standing by her car.

“You know there’s a baby in there, right?” he said.

“Yes, I was gone for like three minutes,” the Mom said.

“All the man did was ask for my ID and go sit in his car, which was parked two down from me, and sat there. Fifteen minutes later he came back to get some info about my address.” She then stated the man said to her,  “It’s freezing out here. You should know better.”

“I started crying. I was freaked out. I said, ‘Yeah, I know. I’m sorry.’ That sort of thing. I was trying to cooperate in hopes he would let me go with a warning. There’s no law against what I did. I was in shock about the whole thing.”

Then another officer arrived, lectured her about how her baby should be her ‘third appendage’ and she was eventually arrested, but released to the custody of her fiancé.

A CPS file was opened on Heather which has subsequently been closed and dismissed.

The Mom is still, however, facing charges of contributing to the delinquency of a child, a charge which many are stunned about, since there is no law about leaving your child alone in a car in Virgina unless it’s hot.

DeStein is embarrassed about what happened and has taken a parenting course with her lawyer hoping to get the case dismissed.

“I’m trying to just get this over and done,” she said. “I know I’m going to probably end up with this misdemeanor on my record. I just want it to go away.”

Heather’s trial will begin in July.

What are you thoughts? Do you think it’s fine to leave a sleeping baby alone in a car?