Police have arrested a Highland Park mother on a felony charge of abandoning or endangering a child with intent to return, after discovering her infant daughter alone in their unlocked home last month.
Leslie Patman Toomay, 32, was arrested and arraigned on Thursday night. Her bond was set at $500, which she posted late Thursday, said Sgt. Lance Koppa, a spokesman for the Highland Park Department of Safety.
On Feb. 13, police responded to a burglar alarm sounding at a home in the 4500 block of Arcady Avenue. When they arrived, they found the front door open; lights and a TV were left on. A semiautomatic shotgun lay on the dining room table, and a large paper cutter lay on a kitchen counter. The back door of the home was unlocked.
Upstairs, police found the 14-month-old baby on her back on the floor, under a “mobile-type tent,” police reports say. The infant had a feeding tube in her abdomen, and appeared unable to roll over or crawl.
Police made contact with the mother approximately 15 minutes after discovering the child, and she didn’t arrive home until approximately 20 to 25 minutes later, the arrest affidavit says.
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On Feb. 13, Toomay told police that she was dropping her older daughter off at a play center and that she thought that her husband was “very close” and that they were “crossing paths,” the report says. She called the incident a “miscommunication” between her and her husband, and said that “it isn’t as easy as it used to be” to take her daughter places due to the fact that she is getting heavier to load into and out of her vehicle.
Toomay also told police the infant has a medical condition that leaves her with “little strength to function,” the report says.
The arrest warrant affidavit says that Toomay “intentionally left the residence leaving her 14 month old physically, mentally and developmentally disabled child, in an upstairs bedroom without providing reasonable and necessary care for the child under circumstances that could expose the child to an unreasonable risk of harm.”
Both children remain in the custody of their parents while Child Protective Services conducts an investigation, Koppa said.
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