Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies placed a 6-year-old girl with special needs in her father’s custody, after the girl was found alone and in a diaper outside Five Below in Valencia around late Wednesday night.
The child’s mother, Michelle Negrellos, 28, of Valencia, has been arrested on suspicion of a felony charge of child endangerment likely to cause great bodily injury or death.
A 911 call from a good Samaritan came to the SCV Sheriff’s Station around 10:45 p.m., “saying that they saw a child running through the intersection of McBean and Magic Mountain (parkways),” according to Deputy Robert Jensen, spokesman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
“Deputies were able to respond, contacted the good Samaritan and the child, the child had an iPad with her, which deputies were able to look at the settings and identify the child’s address and name,” Jensen said.
Jensen said the intersection where the child was found was approximately a half-mile from the home where the mother was then found and arrested by the responding deputies. He also said that, based on when the 911 call was received and the timeline that the responding deputies put together, the child was alone for at least an hour.
The responding deputies reported that they had to waken Negrellos when they arrived, also reporting that she appeared to be intoxicated, Jensen said.
After making contact and arresting Negrellos, they located the child’s biological father at a different home and transferred the girl to his custody.
Sheriff’s Department custody records indicate Negrellos is due at L.A. County Superior Court in San Fernando on Friday to answer to the allegation.
She is being held at the SCV Sheriff’s Station jail and did not have a bail amount listed.
