HIALEAH, FLA. (WSVN) - Newly released body camera video revealed the moment when, investigators said, Hialeah Police officers encountered a 13-year-old girl chained to a fence outside a home while her mother went to her apartment to watch TV.
The incident took place at a home in Hialeah near West 63rd Street and Fourth Avenue on July 11.
According to Hialeah Police, 34-year-old Yashira Maldonado tied her special needs daughter to a fence using a metal chain.
The bodycam video shows officers arriving to the home to find the teen and her great-grandmother, after the great-grandmother had called 911 to report the incident.
Officers said Maldonado was supposed to drop off her daughter. Surveillance video showed what she did instead.
The footage showed the suspect as she appeared to chain the teen by her waist to the fence, leaving her outside under sweltering conditions, and drove away.
“She was out in the sun — no water, no shade, no shoes,” said Hialeah Police Lt. Eddie Rodriguez.
Investigators said Maldonado then texted family members saying she had been fired from her job and that the girl was outside.
The girl’s great-grandmother eventually found her and called 911 after she was unable to remove the chain.
Photos from the investigation provided an up-close look at the metal chain, as well as a Betty Boop backpack containing clothes and medication, and blue Crocs that were left with the child.
A 911 call from the child’s father, who was out of town at the time of the incident, was also released.
“You are talking to the police in Hialeah. How can I help you?” said a dispatcher.
“My daughter lives down in Hialeah, Florida. I just got a call from my [ex-wife’s] mother saying that she found my daughter abandoned in an apartment and tied to a chain,” he said.
The bodycam video also showed the moment that officers confronted Maldonado at her apartment, located just minutes away, and escorted her to a police cruiser.
The arrest report states:
“The defendant said as soon as she left, she turned her phone on silent mode, where she would not receive audible notification of an incoming call or text. The defendant chose to ignore her phone intentionally and went home to lay in bed and watch TV.”
Maldonado later “stated she knows what she did looks bad and is wrong,” according to the arrest form, reasoning that “she was overwhelmed with the care of the victim and wanted a break.”
Despite being left out in the heat, the girl was not hurt.
Maldonado was arrested and is facing felony charges of child abuse and neglect. She has since bonded out of jail.
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