LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A grandmother is accused of leaving two young children, including a 6-month-old strapped in a car seat, alone in an 82-degree Las Vegas home, police said.
Julia Hardy, 69, faces two counts of child abuse and one charge of depriving an animal of sustenance, records showed.
On May 24, a CPS employee called police, saying they were waiting outside for Hardy to return home for a welfare check on two children – ages 3 and 6 months old, police said. The home is located near Vegas Valley Drive and Eastern Avenue.
The CPS worker had exchanged text messages with Hardy earlier in the day, where she reportedly said the trio was out “enjoying the day,” police said. The worker informed Hardy that she had to return home by 1 p.m. or else she could call the police “due to the concern for the children,” documents said.
A police officer responded around 2 p.m. and knocked on the door, a report said.
“I knocked on the door to the residence in an effort to make contact with anyone inside, and I could hear the sound of a child’s program running,” an officer said. “I could also faintly hear the sound of a child laughing and making noise but did not get any response from anyone else in the residence.”
Around 2:30 p.m., Hardy returned home and allowed the officer inside. The officer found one child in a crib and another strapped in a car seat in a bedroom, police said.
“The car seat was badly soiled with sweat from [redacted] and her diaper was soiled,” police said. The officer noted the air conditioning was off and the temperature inside the apartment was 82 degrees.
A dog was also discovered outside the home without access to food or water, police said. The temperature outside at the time was 92 degrees, police said.
Hardy told police she had left the home to go to the grocery store.
In court Thursday, Judge Rebecca Saxe ordered Hardy to be released on her own recognizance. Saxe said Hardy must comply with Child Protective Services and not have any unsupervised visits with children.
Hardy remained in custody at the Clark County Detention Center as of Thursday afternoon, records showed.