Clare Margaret Meacham Arizona mom arrested leaving 5 month old baby home to go out drinking. Booked with DUI and child abuse.
Probably not the parent of the year … An Arizona mother was arrested after leaving her 5-month-old child home alone to go out drinking during the day, cops said.
Clare Margaret Meacham, 23, of Mesa was booked on charges of driving under the influence and child abuse at 2:20 p.m. Thursday after police received calls about a possible drunk driver.
Upon her arrest, the mother told cops she might have left her baby home alone, according to court documents obtained by CBS 5.
Police drove to Meacham’s home in east Mesa –and were able to hear the infant’s frantic cries from outside the house according to WBAY.
Footage taken from Meacham’s doorbell camera showed the parent having left home around 12:44 p.m., abandoning her baby for over two hours prior to her arrest. At the time, Meacham is thought to have gone out to continue drinking at a bar during the day.
One more drink …
Meacham told police she had left the child in the baby’s crib before leaving — but didn’t remember anything that happened after that.
Records showed she didn’t try to contact anyone to ask them to watch the infant while she was away. It remained unclear why the young mother declined to notify anyone of her absence or arrange a caretaker.
The mom — who can be seen smiling widely in her mugshot — lives alone with her kid, and the only other person who had access to her house was her mother. The whereabouts of the child’s father wasn’t immediately known.
The child, who was not injured, was later placed in the custody of a family member, cops said. Also not clear was what rehabilitation the mother would seek out, if any…
