SEBASTIAN — Alert neighbors came to the rescue of a stranded 18-month-old after the child’s mother left the baby home alone for three hours Monday.
Sebastian mother, Sierra Mauldin, 23, of 1213 Schumann Drive, was arrested Monday after neighbors reported their discovery. She is being held in lieu of $5,000 bond on a single felony child abuse charge.
Neighbors told authorities they saw Mauldin leave her home at approximately 3:30 p.m. and heard crying coming from the home approximately three hours later.
After knocking on the door, one neighbor entered the home to find the child alone in a high chair. The child had defecated through the diaper and was sitting in dirty clothing, according to the police report.
The baby also had red bumps on her legs that resembled a rash or insect bites, the arrest report shows.
Mauldin returned home while authorities were on scene. She claimed she left the baby with her 16-year-old brother who was supposed to be babysitting.
Four witness accounts confirm Mauldin’s brother was seen leaving the home at least 10 minutes before Mauldin left Monday afternoon.
Officers noted the home had a “strong odor of rotting food and sewage,” and there were several children’s cups “filled with curdled milk.”
The house was “filled with bugs and there was trash and old food lying out in the open,” according to the police report.
The Department of Children and Families sent an investigator to the home.
