Parents Charged After Leaving Infant In Parking Lot

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A Texas couple have been arrested after their 8-week-old boy was left in his car seat on the ground in a busy parking lot in Katy, Texas.

Parents Sarah Shibley, 33, and Gary Collins, 39, were arrested and charged with endangering a child.

A man reportedly found the infant and handed him over to Dee Griffin-Stevens, a mother of three, who said she cared for the baby until authorities arrived.

“I was crying. I was crying because I couldn’t believe it was happening,” she told said. “I’m holding him, and I’m thinking, ‘Where’s your mom?'”

Griffin-Stevens said that the baby was alone in the car seat without a bottle or a blanket.

A friend of hers also managed to capture the emotional moment on video.

Authorities estimate that the baby was alone for about 45 minutes before the man found him. During the couple’s first court appearance this week, a prosecutor said the couple left the child there by mistake.

“Mrs. Shibley advised she walked out of work with the child in her hand and placed him on the ground. She says she thought Mr. Collins grabbed the child and put him in the vehicle. Apparently, nobody did,” the prosecutor said.

The baby is now in Child Protective Services’ custody until relatives are found to care for him.
A CPS spokeswoman described the baby as a “happy, healthy, chunky baby who looks as if he has been cared for.”

Shibley and Collins have requested court-appointed attorneys and they are scheduled to appear back in court on Thursday.