Ohio woman arrested for locking up her three young children at home so she could go drinking at bar
An Ohio woman who was arrested for allegedly leaving her three children unattended and locked inside a room so she could go drink at a bar has been charged.
According to WJW, Liz Yomaris Torres Rivera was arrested last month when she returned home from a nearby bar after drinking and found police had broken inside and were caring for her children.
Deputies from the Cleveland Police were called to the residence in the 4200 block of Storer Avenue by a citizen who reported that they could hear non-stop crying from children inside and bodycam footage captured at the scene shows how the entire incident went down.
The footage shows responding officers kicking down the front door and initially finding nothing. But as they continued investigating, they heard children crying from inside the apartment as they made their way to a locked room.
Inside, they found three children, aged just 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years, even as one officer calls for backup. "Can you have EMS come check out three toddlers? No adult. They were locked in their room," he can be heard saying.
Rivera walked in a few moments later and asks, "What's going on?"As she tries to make her way to the room, an officer stops her and says, "You weren't worried about the kids when you locked ‘em in the bedroom and you took off, were you?" adding, "Smell like you've been drinking. Coming from a bar."
When he asks her if she was at a bar called "Benny's" she responds in the affirmative. She was subsequently placed in handcuffs and can be heard begging to see her children as she was led away by officers.
She was later kicked out of the apartment by her landlord, with a note suggesting that the property had been damaged. The police noted that they found garbage and bugs and that the residence had a "nasty smell." They also said it "felt about 90 to 95 degrees inside."
WJW reported that the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services also had an open case with the mother, though the details of that case are currently unclear.
Rivera is facing charges of child endangering. She is reportedly planning to plead not guilty and has claimed that she didn't leave her children alone and had left them in the care of a "supposed friend."
Following her arrest, the children were placed in the care of a relative.