Woman Suspected of Child Endangerment

An Oxnard woman was arrested on suspicion of child endangerment after she allegedly left her 4-month-old infant unattended in an unlocked minivan while she shopped at a drugstore.

Camille Diaz, 36, was taken into custody around 2 p.m. Sunday after leaving the baby girl alone for about 30 minutes while she shopped with another daughter at a store in the 700 block of Channel Islands Boulevard, police said.

Port Hueneme Police Sgt. Ron Burns said customers at the Oliveira Plaza shopping center heard the baby crying and removed her from the unlocked minivan. Witnesses reported that the infant, wrapped in a blanket, was sweating profusely in the midafternoon heat. One window on the minivan was partly open, Burns said.

When Diaz and her 10-year-old daughter returned to the van, the children were released to the custody of their father, Michael, police said. The mother of four, who told police she had forgotten the baby was in the vehicle, was arrested.

She was later released on her own recognizance, Burns said. Prosecutors will decide at a later date whether child-endangerment charges should be filed.