VERO BEACH – A woman was arrested after leaving her children in a hot car while she played video games inside an arcade in Vero Beach.
The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office received a call about two children left unattended in a vehicle that was not running in Vero Beach.
As deputies arrived, they noticed all of the windows were lowered about halfway as two children were crying and screaming, according to the report.
A 3-year-old was seen playing with a cell phone in the passenger seat while a 3-month-old infant was crying and sweating profusely in the rear seat, the report said.
A deputy removed one of the children and held her until she stopped crying.
Anthonecia Teague, 21, walked out of the Magic Palace Arcade when she saw law enforcement holding her child. Teague told deputies that she was only gone a few minutes speaking with her mother inside the arcade.
“Per The National Weather Service website the heat index at the time of this call was 101 degrees Fahrenheit,” the deputy wrote in the report.
A Springfield Comfort Monitor was placed inside the car for exactly 20 minutes to test the temperature and humidity.
After 20 minutes, the monitor showed the temperature was 99 degrees Fahrenheit, and the humidity was 54 percent.
Deputies spoke with an employee inside the arcade and observed a security video showing Teague walking in and speaking with her mother. Six minutes later, she sat down and began to play a video game.
Teague left the children unattended for 24 minutes while inside the Vero Beach arcade.
The person who called law enforcement about the children said she could hear a baby screaming and crying in the parking lot of Winn-Dixie. She drove around, following the screams, until she was able to locate a silver Mitsubisihi SUV parked at the arcade.
Teague was arrested and transported to the Indian River County Jail where she charged with two counts of felony child abuse.