HALL COUNTY, Ga. — A Gainesville woman is in jail after police found her 4-year-old son wandering alone at night, marking the second such incident in the city in two months.
The child was discovered by an officer on routine patrol along Myrtle Street, less than a mile from downtown Gainesville, just before midnight on Monday.
Police say the boy’s mother, 24-year-old Magdalena Carmelo-Gomez, had left him home alone while she worked an overnight shift.
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“Definitely concerning to see someone that young out at that time of night and unaccompanied,” Gainesville Police Capt. Justin Martin told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims.
The child had been alone for about an hour.
“Luckily the juvenile was able to walk the officer back to the residence,” Martin said. “He knew where he lived and was able to point the officer to the residence.”
Carmelo-Gomez is charged with felony second-degree child cruelty and is being held on a $5,700 bond.
“If a child is not old enough to care for themselves, to know how to reach someone when there’s an emergency, to be able to react to an emergency, and to generally take care of themselves, they’re not old enough to be left unattended,” Martin said.
This incident follows a similar case in late June when 24-year-old Anahi Rios was charged with reckless conduct after her toddler was found walking alone before 6 a.m. along Skelton Road.
“I know she’s working hard for the kids,” said Carmelo-Gomez’s cousin, Magdalena Lucas. Lucas stated that the boy and his 5-year-old sister were at a babysitter’s home when he wandered off.
The mother is from Guatemala and has an immigration hold while she’s in jail.
Her cousin and other family members I spoke with call her a good mother who would never leave her children without supervision. Lucas said she lived in Tennessee for eight years before moving to Gainesville a month ago.
Police have collaborated with the Department of Family and Children Services (D-FACS) to ensure the children are in a safe place.
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