By Joe Johnson
A Winder woman was arrested Tuesday for leaving her infant in an unlocked vehicle while she was playing video poker inside a convenience store, according to a Barrow County sheriff’s incident report.
A deputy responded to Value Mart on Jefferson Highway in Winder shortly before noon on a report of an unattended child in a vehicle, the report stated.
Upon the deputy’s arrival, several people pointed out a Cadillac Escalade pickup truck, which was unlocked and contained an infant in a car seat.
When the deputy found the child’s mother inside the store playing video poker, the woman explained that “she was trying to win more money for gas,” according to the report.
The mother, identified as Mayra Guadalupe Juarez Rodriguez of Creekwood Court, was informed that she was going to jail for the offense of reckless conduct, at which time she began begging the deputy to not arrest her, citing the infant’s “multiple medical problems,” the report stated.
The medical issues included seizures and the infant requiring a gastrostomy tube in its stomach, a device that provides nutrients to children who have trouble eating.
“I informed Mayra these problems were all the more reason for her not to leave the child unattended,” the deputy wrote in the report.
A Department of Family and Children Services representative responded to the scene and allowed the infant to be given into the care of a family member, according to the incident report.
As of Friday afternoon, Rodriguez continued to be held at the Barrow County Detention Center in lieu of a $3,00 bond.