Woman Admits Child Endangerment Over Leaving Baby in Car : Courts: The West Hills mother must perform 200 hours of community service and attend a parenting course.
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A West Hills woman accused of leaving her baby daughter alone in a parked car while shopping admitted in court Wednesday she had endangered the child, and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service and ordered to take a parenting course.
The sentence was imposed on Hyun Hee Cho, 30, who has regained custody of the infant and another child, which she had lost after the arrest.
Cho pleaded no contest, the legal equivalent of a guilty plea, to a misdemeanor charge of child endangering in Van Nuys Municipal Court.
Cho was charged with leaving her 11-month-old daughter in her locked station wagon for nearly one hour Jan. 9 while shopping at Costco in Canoga Park.
About 25 bystanders who had gathered around the sealed car in response to the baby girl’s screams applauded police when they arrested the stunned Cho, who speaks only Korean.
The baby and a 4-year-old son who was with Cho inside the store were immediately placed in foster homes by the Los Angeles County Child Services Department, said Deputy City Atty. Laura Van Eyk.
Van Eyk, who prosecuted the case, said that doctors who examined the baby girl after the incident reported she was not injured.
The prosecutor said that Cho, who has been free on $25,000 bail, could have been punished by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Cho’s lawyer, William P. Min, did not return a reporter’s telephone calls after sentencing.
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