MIAMI (WSVN) - A young mother in Miami has been accused of leaving her 7-year-old son trapped inside a home nailed shut with no air conditioning, food or water.
Twenty-four-year-old Claudia Dinora Maldonado-Vasquez faced a judge in bond court, Wednesday.
Miami Police made the disturbing discovery after responding to reports of a screaming child along Northwest 10th Avenue and 29th Street, around 9 a.m., Tuesday.
According to the arrest report, officers saw the 7-year-old boy all by himself inside the home through a window.
The arrest report stated that “the child told the unit that he did not want to be alone. The unit then observed bars around the windows and nails at the top of the door that would not allow the door to be opened from the inside.”
Investigators said conditions inside the home were terrible as “the house was hot with no air conditioning, no windows open, no access to ventilation” and “had empty beer bottles and cigarette butts on the floor.”
“The heat was terrible. There was no ventilation,” said Miami Police Officer Kenia Fallat, “and the door had been nailed shut.”
The arrest report also stated that “there was no telephone, no drinking water and no food to eat.”
“Expired milk, the refrigerator had a rotten smell,” an official said during Maldonado-Vazquez’s court appearance.
Police said they had a hard time finding the young mom after freeing the 7-year-old from the sweltering home.
“They tried to call her. The officer identifies himself as a police officer, and she hangs up the phone,” the official said in court.
Patrol officers eventually tracked down the 24-year-old, who told police that she had left her son with her cousin.
The Florida Department of Children and Families said the young mother tested positive for cocaine.
“We applaud the neighbor for calling us,” said Fallat. “Had we arrived any time later than that, what we would have found would have been disastrous.”
The Department of Children and Families is currently taking care of the child while the mother awaits her fate.
Maldonado-Vasquez faces charges of child neglect with no great bodily harm.
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