Mother Arrested for Leaving 15-month old Twins Alone in Apartment

(New Braunfels, TX) -- A New Braunfels mother was arrested over the weekend after she allegedly left two of her children (a pair of twin 15-month old boys) alone and unsupervised inside a local apartment.

New Braunfels Police say they were called to the Langtry Village Apartments in the 1500 block of North Bus. 35 around 4pm Saturday because an anonymous tip told them a 12-year old female runaway may be staying at that apartment.

Officers arrived and knocked on the door but got no response, so they looked through a window right by the front door and that’s when they could see a child inside a crib in that room. So officers continued to knock and eventually, after 37 minutes on scene, they decided that, for the safety of the child, they had better enter the apartment.

The manager of the complex was contacted and they were let into the apartment and discovered not one, but two, children, each in their own crib, and one with an empty bottle in his hand. Officers noted that it was hot inside the apartment and that the children were sweating.

At 5:11pm, more than an hour after police arrived at the scene, the mother of the children arrived and explained that she had taken her 5-year old son and 2-year old daughter shopping with her at a local clothing store.

The mother, identified as 36-year old Yanelly Jimenez, was then taken into custody and charged with 2 counts of abandoning or endangering a child (which is a state jail felony, punishable by 180 days to 2 years in a state jail). She later posted a 10-thousand dollar bond and was released.

The children were released into the custody of their father who had been at work during Saturday’s incident. Child Protective Services was also called and made aware of the situation.