POSTED: Thursday, December 9, 2010 - 4:16pm
UPDATED: Monday, June 25, 2012 - 7:44am
Nobody called authorities. In fact, an animal control employee saw the 8-year-old girl riding her scooter on the street. When asked what she was doing, she said she was playing outside while her mom was at work and was left all alone. Because the mother left her daughter at home with no adult in sight, she was arrested.
35-year-old, Olga Borrayo, was taken into custody after police learned she had left her daughter home alone while she worked nearby. Police say an animal control employee was called out to the neighborhood to pick up a stray dog Wednesday afternoon. That employee saw the child going after the same dog in her scooter. When asked what she was doing, she told the city employee the situation and both went home to call the mother. As soon as they went inside, the phone rang. It was Borrayo calling her daughter to see if she was okay.
"She was advised she needed to come. Once she got there she was notified it was against the law to leave a child of that age in a situation like that."
"Ocho años, esta muy chiquita."
Eight years old, she's too young. That’s what Amada Ramirez says of Borrayo's daughter staying home alone.
"Yo nunca deje a mis hijos. Nunca."
Ramirez, who has five children says she never left her children alone and can't imagine ever leaving them on their own.
She went on to say if she was ever faced with work or leaving her kids without supervision, she would have taken the day off. But Borrayo didn't do that.
She told authorities she left her daughter on her own because she had no one to look after her and Borrayo needed to work.
Under the Texas penal code, abandon is defined as leaving a child, under the age of 15, in any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the child.
"This is a very young age and a lot of things can happen. It’s extremely important that the children are left supervised and if not, they stand the chance of getting arrested, being a criminal offense."
Borrayo was charged with child abandonment. Her bond was set at $5,000.