Unnamed Girl - 1 yo - / Accused: Gabriella Lopez, babysitter Winter Park FL

Toddler Found Wandering Alone, Babysitter Arrested

Posted: 5:49 pm EDT May 15, 2011

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A one-year-old girl was found wandering alone down Semoran Boulevard in Winter Park on Saturday afternoon. A good samaritan spotted the girl and called sheriff deputies.

The Sheriff's Office says the toddler was staying with a babysitter at the Nob Hill apartments when somehow she wandered away. The babysitter, 35-year-old Gabriella Lopez, told deputies the toddler had been missing for 40 minutes. But they say Lopez never tried to call the baby's mother or the authorities. They arrested Lopez for child neglect.

Eyewitness News tried talking with Lopez at her apartment on Sunday to get her side of the story, but she wasn't home.

Neighbors say they're mortified the baby wandered near such a busy street. “You have to watch them obviously. I don't let my kids go anywhere without me, so I don't know it was just up to that babysitter. Maybe she had other kids, or the door was open took her eyes off her for a second, it could have been anything,” said neighbor Dana Young.


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