Inset: Mariana Soto Montezuma (Bexar County Sheriff's Office). Background: News footage of the apartment in Balcones Heights, Texas, where the children were found (KSAT).
A Texas woman is behind bars after police said she left her young niece and nephew alone.
Mariana Soto Montezuma was charged with two counts of abandoning or endangering a child with intent to return after police said she left the two children by themselves in her apartment. According to an arrest report obtained by San Antonio, Texas-based ABC affiliate KSAT, the children — a 5-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl — were found in an apartment in Balcones Heights on Nov. 7 by an employee of Rent-a-Center.
The Balcones Heights Police Department arrived at the scene, where the employee said the little boy answered the door and said his mother was not home.
According to the arrest report, the employee told police that he showed up at the apartment to collect a payment. He told police that he looked inside and saw the 4-year-old girl peering out from behind the kitchen counter. He said he waited about 10 to 15 minutes before calling authorities. When officers tried knocking on the door, no one answered.
Police said Soto Montezuma returned home shortly after they arrived and identified herself as the children's aunt. An assistant property manager let officers inside, where they saw the children, who were "crying and visibly frightened," according to the arrest report. There were allegedly no other adults in the home.
When police contacted the boy's mother, she told them she had dropped off both children with Soto Montezuma so she could go to the hospital after experiencing tooth pain. After Soto Montezuma was arrested, the children were both returned to their mothers.
Soto Montezuma is also charged with entering the country illegally, according to the report. She is being held at the Bexar County Detention Center without bond. Her next court date is scheduled for March 31, 2027.