Oak Hill Woman, 26, Charged After 2 Toddlers Found Home Alone

Date Added: January 10, 2018 5:30 pm

Jan. 10, 2018
For immediate release
Contact Laura Williams, Office of Public Affairs & Media Relations

Oak Hill Woman, 26, Charged After 2 Toddlers Found Home Alone

Deputies discovered two young children had been left home alone in an Oak Hill trailer park Tuesday, along with three dogs and an unsecured shotgun and ammunition within reach of the youngsters.

The person left in charge of them, Yajaira Tirado, 26, was arrested on two counts of child neglect without great harm. 

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to the case around 8 a.m. Tuesday after receiving a 911 call – somehow made by a young female in the home who wasn’t old enough to speak clearly. During the eight-minute call, the 911 dispatcher could be heard asking the youngster how old she was, and to call her mommy or daddy to the phone.

Upon his arrival at the home, a deputy found the girl, age 3, still on the phone with the dispatcher. A 1-year-old boy was found in a playpen. Both children were found wearing soiled diapers. One dog was running loose in the home and two others were found caged in the kitchen. The deputy noted the residence was unkempt with dog fecal matter on the floors and hardly any food in the refrigerator.

The deputy called the trailer park manager to assist him in entering the trailer. The deputy contacted a family member who works out of town. He told the deputy that Tirado watches the children and sometimes goes to a store in their golf cart. A neighbor told the deputy that Tirado had left in a golf cart at about 7:30 a.m. About two hours later, the deputy located the golf cart and Tirado, who said she went to get groceries from a friend.  She told the deputy she knew the children were alone at the residence and “she had only been gone for five minutes.”

Tirado told the deputy she had asked a neighbor to watch the children while she was gone, and Tirado said she returned to check on them at 8:50 a.m., found they were sleeping so she returned to have coffee with her friend. However, the deputy confronted her about the incident and Tirado admitted she was not being truthful. Tirado told the deputy she knew there was an unsecured firearm in the trailer but she believed the weapon was broken.

A Department of Children and Families investigator was called to the scene to investigate. The children were turned over to the family member pending the investigation.

Tirado was arrested and transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail. She has since been released after posting $5,000 bail.