EPPD: Boy, 5, found wandering alone overnight; mother arrested

El Paso Police arrested the mother of a five-year-old boy found wandering alone at about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

Police charged Giselle Prado, 24, with Abandoning or Endangering a Child.

Police officers were dispatched to the La Hacienda Apartments at 9021 Betel after a witness encountered the boy. Police said the child was only wearing a t-shirt, sweat pants and slippers when the witness found him along the 9000 block of Cashew. The temperature in El Paso at the time was 43 degrees.

Officers checked the complex and surrounding area. About a quarter-mile away, the officers allegedly found an apartment unit with an open door at a complex located on the 9100 block of Kernel. No one was inside the apartment, police said.

The police officers were eventually able to communicate with the child’s mother by phone. The woman allegedly told police she stepped out only to get food from a food truck and left child alone.

Police officials said officers were at the apartment with the child about one-and-a-half hours before they were able to speak with the mother and have her return home.

When the woman returned to the apartment, she was arrested and the child was released to the custody of his grandmother.

Police said Child Protective Services was notified. Prado was jailed on a $1,500 bond.