A 23-year-old nanny was arraigned Friday on accusations that she left a newborn baby and a toddler in a parked minivan on a nearly 90-degree day while she was inside a Southeast Portland tanning salon.
A witness reported that the children -- ages 1 month and nearly 3 years -- had been left in the Dodge Caravan on May 14 at about 2:40 p.m. in the parking lot of Sunblaze Tanning. The windows were completely closed, according to court papers.
The witness called police, and East Precinct officer Rian Hamby responded to the lot at Southeast 148th Avenue and Powell Boulevard, according to court papers.
Kristin Marie Jones
“When we arrived, (the witness) approached Hamby and pointed to the vehicle with two screaming children inside,” reads a probable cause affidavit filed by prosecutor Chuck Mickley. “...Hamby observed the children to be covered in sweat and screaming.”
The officer was in the process of removing the children from the car when Kristin Marie Jones walked out of the tanning salon, according to the affidavit. Jones and the officer carried the children into the tanning salon, the affidavit said.
The officer noted that the older child, who turned 3 this month, was soaked in sweat. The child was so hot that the officer could feel the child’s body heat radiating at him through his bulletproof vest, the affidavit states.
Jones “initially claimed that she left the children with their mother in the car,” but a child-welfare worker later reported that the children’s mother had been at work all day. Jones admitted that she had left the children alone in the minivan and said she lied because she was scared, according to the affidavit.
Jones, of Oregon City, was given a citation that day. She was indicted on June 16 in Multnomah County Circuit Court on accusations of first-degree criminal mistreatment, recklessly endangering another person, second-degree child neglect and driving with a suspended or revoked license.
Jones appeared in court Friday to hear the charges. She has pleaded not guilty to all counts. She was booked into jail Friday, then released.
Judge Karin Immergut ordered that she have no unsupervised contact with children. She also isn’t allowed to work as a nanny.
-- Aimee Green