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A 5-year-old twin died after his foster mom left him trapped in a vehicle for seven hours in 89-degree heat, police said — the 10th hot-car fatality in the US this year.
The tragedy happened Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska, when Juanita Pinon, 40, allegedly left her foster son, Dionicio Perez, inside a scorching SUV in a parking lot outside the beauty salon where she worked.
Prosecutors said Pinon, who has a rap sheet dating back to 2016, parked her car and then went to work. It wasn’t clear whether Perez’s death was intentional or an accident.
Perez’s body temperature reached 105 degrees and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Pinon, who apparently has five other children in her care, was arrested and charged with child abuse by neglect, resulting in death, and faces up to 20 years in prison. Her bond was set at $2 million, according to a local NBC affiliate.
This wasn’t Pinon’s first brush with the law — she was previously convicted in 2016 of theft by deception for swindling non-English speaking renters out of $12,000, according to reports.
The young boy’s biological father, Pablo Lopez, and his stepmother, Jenny, had pursued custody, they reportedly said, but the state assured them their son was in good hands.
Lopez is trying to get custody of Perez’s twin sister, who just turned five in June, according to a GoFundMe established for funds to obtain a lawyer and get “his sister safely home.”