Mom Arrested for Letting Kid Play in Lego Store While She Shopped

Do you remember going to the store as a kid? It
was time on your own. It was a thrill.

Now, it’s a crime.

Yesterday afternoon, a mom in Long Island, New
York, was
arrested for leaving her 7-year-old at the Roosevelt Field Mall
LEGO Store for an hour and 20 minutes while she shopped
elsewhere in the mall. According to Patch.com:

A store manger at the Lego Store became concerned for
the well being of the unsupervised child and contacted mall
security, who then called 911, police said.

The child was left unattended in the store for about an
hour and 20 minutes, police said. When Patricia Juarez returned to
the store, she arrested without incident at about 5:30 p.m., police
said.

The story mentions that the the mother, Patricia Juarez, was
also charged with petty larceny stemming from a previous warrant.
Larceny is a real crime, of course. Letting your kid play by
himself in the LEGO Store is not. I would really love the police to
explain how endangered this child actually was, in a public place,
surrounded by employees, shoppers, and security (and LEGO
superheroes!).

Nonetheless, in a
country that arrests parents for taking their eyes off their kids
anytime before they’re legally old enough to join the Army, Juarez
is now considered a criminal.

Her child was released to a relative, which makes me wonder
whether the mom is in jail or simply not allowed contact with her
son, since she is obviously a depraved monster who left her kid in
an alligator swamp with meatballs in his pockets (or the suburban
equivalent).