TEMPE, Ariz. — The parents of an 11-month-old near-drowning victim found in a Tempe hotel room face child abuse charges.
Summer Dawn Angelly, 23, and Jasen Anchondo, 28, are charged with one felony count each.
Police said the couple’s son was found lying in the bathtub under a running faucet by police and firefighters responding to a call Aug. 12 at the Days Inn on East Apache Boulevard.
“[The child] was found unresponsive when officers arrived,” Tempe Police Sergeant Stephen Carbajal said.
The child was taken to a hospital. He has now been released and it appears he will make a full recovery.
Police said Angelly had run to the motel office screaming about the boy and the motel manager had gone to the room with a cell phone. Although the father stated the child was “OK,” the manager noted the child did not appear to be breathing. She called 911.
Upon questioning, both Angelly and Anchondo changed their story of events. The infant had soiled his diaper and was placed in the tub because there were no more clean diapers. The water was left running and the infant was left alone. Both parents admitted to being aware that their son was in the tub, unsupervised.
Both Angelly and Anchondo were asleep in bed when the boy’s four-year-old sister awakened them, saying that her little brother was “asleep in the tub.”
Police called Child Protective Services, which took custody of the sister, her 2-year-old brother and a twin 11-month-old brother.
“Obviously children are very vulnerable and have the expectation that their parents are going to provide for their safety,” Carbajal said. “What happened that morning was very tragic but just negligent and very irresponsible.”
Police said the parents and four children moved to Tempe from California approximately eight weeks ago, and had been staying with a family member prior to moving into the motel.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.