Parents accused of leaving 2-year-old son in hot car while shopping at Target in Aventura

ADVENTURE, Fla. – A couple is behind bars after police accused them of leaving their 2-year-old son inside a hot car while they shopped at a Target in Aventura over the weekend.

According to an Aventura Police Department arrest report, Melvin Alejandro Jaimes, 25, and Paola Palencia-Rodriguez, 24, each face one count each of child abuse without great bodily harm and leaving a child under 6 unattended in a vehicle.

Police said Jaimes and Palencia-Rodriguez were shopping at Target, located at 21265 Biscayne Blvd., when a passerby noticed the boy sleeping in the car with the ignition off, doors closed and sitting in his own vomit shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday.

Authorities said the passerby convinced the 2-year-old boy to open the door, at which point Aventura police arrived on the scene.

The parents admitted to leaving the child in the hot car with the windows up and the engine off, according to the report. Police said the child appeared to be “sweaty, hot to the touch, awake and crying,” but was in good health and was not taken to the hospital.

Detectives noted that the temperature at the time was around 90 degrees and that there was an active tropical storm and tornado warning in the area.

Police said surveillance video showed the boy in the vehicle for 30 minutes from 11:15 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. before he was discovered.

They said the boy was picked up by his grandmother and that the Department of Children and Families (DCF) has been notified and will take over the case.

Investigators confirmed that both parents have no criminal history and were transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.

Palencia-Rodriguez appeared in bond court Monday morning, where Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer found probable cause for the child abuse charges and warned Palencia of the dire consequences he narrowly avoided.

“You’re lucky someone found your 2-year-old sleeping in a hot car,” Glazer said. “You’re lucky you’re here and not out planning a funeral.”

Palencia-Rodriguez, who has been living in South Florida for four months after moving from Spain, received a petition from her mother, Carmen Rodriguez, who appeared via Zoom during the hearing.

Speaking through a Spanish translator, Rodriguez defended her daughter, saying: “My daughter is a very good mother. She is very loving and the father is as well. I would like her to reconsider her decision regarding the restraining order because all of us here love this child very much. She is very responsible. It was an honest mistake and human beings make mistakes.”

Glazer granted Palencia-Rodriguez supervised visits with her son, specifying that the supervisor cannot be the child’s father. The state agreed to the arrangement, but prohibited overnight visits.

Glazer set Palencia’s bail at $2,500 and asked him to never leave a child unsupervised in a car, even for 30 seconds.

When he appeared in bond court and was asked about his residency, Jaimes replied, “I’ve been living in the country for four months.” He also claimed that he had previously lived in Mexico and Spain.

Glazer granted Jaimes supervised visitation with his son and also set his bail at $2,500.