Mother makes plea deal in case of child, 2, left in car

Beth Slovic

Thursday, June 10, 2004 | 11:29 a.m.

A woman accused of leaving her 2-year-old daughter in a car outside a Henderson shopping center April 15 has agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the neglect of a minor rather than risk a felony conviction that could have prevented her from becoming a U.S. citizen, the woman's lawyer said.

Maria Guadalupe Avila, 28, a legal immigrant from the Mexican state of Zacatecas, was arrested after an employee at the Costco warehouse on Marks Street, where Avila was shopping, noticed the child in the parked car and called Henderson Police.

Avila initially faced the possibility of being charged with a gross misdemeanor or a felony. Police said the child had likely been in the car for about 20 minutes. She was not physically injured.

As part of the plea agreement, Avila is to receive a suspended sentence, pay a $500 fine and will take parenting classes, her lawyer, Brian R. McCarthy, said. If she is re-arrested on any other charges, she will go to jail for at least one month, Deputy District Attorney Stacy Kollins said.

Avila already has lost her job as a full-time food server in a Clark County elementary school cafeteria, McCarthy said. After her arrest, the school district placed her on administrative leave, he said. With the reduced charges, she was offered a part-time job preparing food in the cafeteria to ensure that she would not come into contact with children, he said.

"She wanted her job back and to be able to work around kids," McCarthy said.

But her biggest fear was that the arrest might keep her from becoming a U.S. citizen, McCarthy said.

"She admits that she made an error in judgment, and she would like to move ahead with her life," he said. "If it were to remain a felony, there is a possibility that it could impact her petition for citizenship."

McCarthy said he believes authorities overcharged Avila and he believes the law that requires that parents be punished for potentially harming their children -- as opposed to actual harm -- could be unconstitutional.

"But we're not in a position to be raising those issues, because of her immigration status," McCarthy said.

Avila also has an 8-year-old son and a husband who works as a food server on the Strip, McCarthy said.

Avila is scheduled to appear in Justice Court in Henderson on June 24 to enter her plea agreement.

"I think we've come up with a reasonable solution," Kollins said.

Other parents accused of leaving their children in parked cars in recent months have faced penalties that varied widely, depending on whether or not the police and district attornies believed the parents knowingly left their children alone.

Last June Won Chong of Las Vegas left his sleeping 2-year-old son in a running car outside a Starbucks on Durango Drive. He plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of contributory neglect and was fined $500. He was given a suspended sentence and had to take parenting classes.

Around the same time, Maria Door Soto of Las Vegas was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service after her car was stolen from a shoe store parking lot with her 16-month-old son inside. The car was recovered with the child inside after five hours. She pleaded guilty to a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Her case remains active and she is scheduled to appear in court June 24.

Last summer two other parents whose children died as a result of being left in their parents' cars faced no criminal penalties. Authorities believed those parents had not knowingly left their children in their cars.