BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A Bellingham father was arrested after a witness found his infant child alone in the back of an empty car.
Police Lt. Claudia Murphy said a witness reported the child was initially seen with a woman in the front seat Saturday afternoon, September 9th, in the Safeway parking lot.
That witness returned to the area less than ten minutes later to find the woman had left the baby unattended.
The car’s windows were down and the keys were in the ignition as temperatures reached a high of 75 degrees.
The woman never returned to the vehicle and has not been identified.
Officers removed the child and eventually reunited them with their mother, who was at work in another city.
The child’s father, identified as 34-year-old Benjamin Morales, was found several hours later inside the Safeway bathroom.
He admitted leaving the child with the woman, initially claiming that he didn’t know who she was.
Morales was booked into the Whatcom County Jail Saturday and released on $2,000 bail Monday.