Mom arrested for leaving her children & dogs unattended without access to water during heat wave
A mom was arrested after officers found that she left her children and dogs unattended without access to water or shade during a dangerous heat wave in her Twentynine Palms home.
Deputies from the Morongo Sheriff’s Station were dispatched to a residence on the 5000 block of Hasley Avenue Tuesday just before 10:30 a.m. The deputies were called in to assist Animal Control officers who were at the residence responding to calls regarding dogs that were left outside in the heat with no access to water or shade. According to deputies, the approximate ground temperature was estimated at 145 degrees.
When deputies arrived to the residence they spotted a seven-year-old girl inside the residence. Animal Control officers & deputies knocked on the front door for several minutes but were unable to contact the parents.
Deputies entered the unlocked residence to check on the welfare of the child. Inside the residence, deputies found 27-year-old Natalya McCourt, the children’s mother, asleep in her room and spotted a child’s arm reaching under the door of a hallway bedroom. Two boys, ages 6 and 3, were found in the bedroom, the 6-year-old boy was autistic.
Deputies discovered that the door to the boys’ bedroom was locked from the outside, and the boys were locked inside without access to water or restrooms.
McCourt was subsequently arrested, transported, and booked into the Morongo Jail for felony child cruelty and felony animal neglect.
Read: Dangerous Heat Wave: Palm Springs ties daily record high of 122 degrees Read: Extreme heat cancels some flights out of Palm Springs International Airport How hot is it going to get today? Check your First Alert Weather Forecast for the Coachella Valley
