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Miami Woman Left Child Inside Car While She Went Shopping: Police

A Miami woman was arrested after she left her child, who has autism, behind inside her car while she shopped at a Bed, Bath and Beyond, police said.

Veronika Lopez, 47, faces a charge of child neglect with no great bodily harm, an arrest report said.

Police said Lopez left her 4-year-old daughter in her car seat inside of her vehicle Thursday afternoon at the Dadeland Station Mall.

The arrest report said Lopez shopped at the Bed, Bath and Beyond for almost 30 minutes without checking on her child. Lopez told detectives that she ran the air conditioning in the car for a few minutes before she went inside the store, but she turned the vehicle off and activated the child locks when she left. It was 81 degrees at around that time.

Officers found the child awake and her back full of sweat after concerned witnesses called police. Lopez admitted she had a lapse in judgement and her actions put her daughter in danger, the report said.

Lopez was booked into Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $5,000 bond. A judge on Friday ordered Lopez should stay away and have no contact with her child.

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