Mother Pleads No Contest to Leaving Child

A Reseda woman pleaded no contest Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of child abandonment for leaving her 18-month-old daughter in a shopping cart in a West Hills discount store.

As a result of a plea bargain negotiated in Van Nuys Municipal Court, Hang Tran, 35, is not expected to serve any time in custody.

Under the agreement between Deputy Dist. Atty. Leonard J. Shaffer and Deputy Public Defender Elie Miller, Tran will be placed on probation for three years and will be ordered to seek psychiatric care.

“We want her to get well and to protect her children,” Miller said.

Judge Jessica Perrin Silvers will formally sentence Tran on March 22.

Tran, who has been beset with emotional problems since fleeing Vietnam nearly two decades ago, was arrested after shoppers found her daughter, Trinh, in the hardware section of the Target store in the Fallbrook Mall on Sept. 3, the day the toddler turned 18 months.

A second daughter, now 9 months old, was not left behind.

Tran, wearing pants and a white sweat shirt with her hair pulled into a ponytail, appeared nervous and confused as she clutched a tissue. When Silvers asked Tran how she would plead, the defendant said “not guilty,” words immediately echoed by her mother, Huong Nguyen, who was sitting in the audience.

Miller then consulted with Tran and her sister, Ha Tran, explaining that the no contest plea--the equivalent of a guilty plea in criminal matters--would be “in her best interest.”

The district attorney’s office originally charged Tran with two felony counts of child abandonment--one charge for leaving the child alone, the second for having the intent to abandon the girl.

After the hearing, Ha Tran said her sister is being treated at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk.

The two children are currently being cared for by the parents of Tran’s estranged husband in El Toro because the Tran residence was severely damaged in the Northridge earthquake. However, Ha Tran said the children would be returning to Reseda next week.