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6-month-old baby found in repossessed vehicle

Posted at 1:10 PM, Mar 07, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-09 13:37:17-05

A baby was left alone in a car that was repossessed Monday, in Downtown Bakersfield, and now the baby is back with his mother, according to the Bakersfield Police Department.

Sergeant Gary Carruesco, Public Relations with BPD, said at 11:20 a.m. a repoman called Bakersfield Police and said a 6-month-old was in the back seat of the car.

The repossession agent said the mother, Rosa Morales, 32, who lives in Bakersfield, left her child in the car for five minutes while she was at Golden Empire Towing on South Union Avenue when the agent took possession of the car, according to the police report.

The agent at first did not realize there was a child in the car, he loaded it up and drove a short distance to a safe area. Then he was repositioning the car when he found the young boy in the back seat.

Bakersfield Police called the family and Child Protective Services. The child was reunited with the family. Morales was cited, but allowed to keep her child.

Carruesco said this kind of offense does not happen often in Bakersfield and said he was thankful it wasn't warmer outside as the child could've been hurt.

Kaitlyn's Law was signed in the books in 2001 by Governor Gray Davis. It was named after Kaitlyn Russell, a 6-month-old who died after being left alone in a parked car for more than two hours.

The law states a child under 12-years-old may not be left unattended in a vehicle.