Endangering Child Charges Brought Against Cedar Hill Woman

A Cedar Hill woman was arrested Thursday after she left her 2 year old child in the backseat of a hot car. The good news is the child was discovered and rescued by police. The bad news is the child’s mother Chelsea Polk was arrested and charged with Endangering a Child a second degree felony. There are different penalty ranges for this particular charge. In this case the authorities allege that the defendant abandoned the child under circumstances that a reasonable person would believe would place the child in imminent danger of death. Police report the child was sweating and not responding to them when they arrived and the temperature was 90 degrees. The penalty range is 2 to 20 years in prison. A person may also be eligible for probation if the have no prior felony convictions.

CPS will usually launch as investigation at the same time so a mother facing these charges will often have to defend against criminal charges as well as CPS and child custody issues. Often times CPS will require the parent to under counselling and take classes in order to get custody. A criminal attorney can sometimes use this to his or her advantage when negotiating with the prosecution.