Three Women Arrested For Child Neglect In Naperville
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (STMW) -- Three women have been arrested and charged with child neglect in separate incidents over a five-day period in Naperville, including one who allegedly left her 18-month-old child alone in a hot, unsecured car while she went shopping.
Sandra Cuazitl, Katelyn E. Grimes and Jennifer M. Miller all face trial on charges of endangering the health or life of a child, according to records on file in DuPage County Circuit Court in Wheaton.
Cuazitl allegedly left her child alone while shopping. Grimes is accused of having marijuana and drug paraphernalia around an 8-year-old girl, and Miller of driving drunk and getting into a traffic crash while traveling with her year-old daughter.
Naperville police records showed Cuazitl, 28, of Chicago, surrendered June 21 at the police station in connection with an incident that occurred four days earlier.
Sgt. Lou Cammiso said police officers were sent June 17 to a parking lot on the 2500 block of West 75th Street, in the far west-central part of the city. That block is anchored by a Nordstrom Rack clothing store and features other shops and businesses.
Cammiso, in an e-mail, said "Cuazitl decided to go shopping" at one of the stores "and leave her 1 1/2-year-old child in the car for 30 minutes, (while) the temperature was 84 degrees. The two front windows were opened, and the car was unlocked."
The child was apparently unharmed physically.
Grimes, 23, at the time of her arrest was either living in or a guest of a hotel on the 1500 block of Naperville-Wheaton Road on the city's northeast side. She was taken into custody about 6:56 p.m. June 20, police reports stated.
Cammiso said members of the police department's Special Operations Group were "alerted to a cannabis smell from the doorway of a room occupied by Grimes. Detectives knocked on the door and conducted a consensual search of the room, and located a small amount" of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, "which was kept near an 8-year-old female," Cammiso said.
The girl was not Grimes' daughter, but their relationship was not known, Cammiso said. In addition to the child endangerment count, Grimes was also charged with possession of less than 2.5 grams of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, according to court records.
Miller, 23, of Bolingbrook, was arrested about 10:13 p.m. June 22 following a traffic crash at 87th Street and Naper Boulevard, near the Old Farm neighborhood. Cammiso said Miller was behind the wheel of a silver, 2010 Toyota Corolla "when she rear-ended a car stopped at a stoplight" in Naper Boulevard's southbound lanes.
"She claimed she was distracted" by her year-old daughter, who was traveling with her at the time, Cammiso said of Miller. Police officers who were sent to the scene "noted signs of intoxication," and Miller was subsequently charged with two counts of DUI and one of failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident/driving too fast for conditions in addition to child endangerment, Cammiso said.
An examination of court records showed none of the women have criminal records in DuPage County. All three are free on bond.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
