Virginia Yearnd and John Guerrero Courtesy photo Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4
Before heading on a cross-country road trip, two parents left their child at home all alone, the Harris County Constable said in a statement posted to Facebook. The parents, John Guerrero and Virginia Yearnd, left their 11-year-old daughter alone at their Spring, Texas, home on Aug. 22 and started traveling to Michigan, police said. They were heading to see Godflesh in concert in Detroit, KTRK reported. Detroit is about 1,200 miles away from their Texas home, which is almost a 20-hour drive. Godflesh performed in Detroit’s El Club that same day the parents left, according to a Facebook event. The band’s concerts in the U.S. are “not to be missed” since Godflesh is from England, the Detroit Metro Times reported before the concert. “We’re lucky enough to get the opportunity to bear witness to their intensity live…” the paper said.
While the girl was at home with no supervision on Aug. 23, the girl talked to her great aunt on the phone and said she was alone, police told KTRK. The aunt then called police.
Deputies with Constable Mark Herman’s Office then responded to the child welfare check at the home, the statement said.
When police arrived, they found the girl trying to cook on the stove, KTRK reported.
She also told authorities that she was left without supervision while her parents went to a concert, Herman said. The deputies tried to contact the 11-year-old’s parents and “several family members,” but they were unable to reach anyone, according to the statement.
Hours later, deputies got a hold of Yearnd, and she originally said they were in Louisiana, according to court documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle.
Yearnd later admitted that she and Guerrero went to Detroit to see the band play live, the Detroit Metro Times reported, and Yearnd said she asked her sister to check on the girl while they were out of state. The girl told deputies that she wasn’t told she’d be checked on, the newspaper reported.
The girl told police she didn’t expect them to return until midnight on Aug. 24 — two days after her parents left — and that this wasn’t the first time she was left alone, KTRK reported.
Police released the girl to a neighbor while her parents were still gone, the station reported.
Then, “due to the juvenile’s age and concern for her safety,” the deputies contacted Child Protective Services and filed a warrant for the parents’ arrest, Herman said.
They were both arrested and charged with child endangerment, the statement said, and they received no bond.
The Charlotte Observer
https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/7384b7a7-f9d0-363e-9d2c-4c44777f9251/ss_child-was-home-alone-while.html
Photo: [Rock concert mugs] Virginia Yearnd and John Guerrero Courtesy photo Mark Herman, Harris County Constable Precinct 4