Child found wandering Albuquerque apartment complex with soiled clothes, no shoes
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A mother who left her son for several hours has been charged with child abuse after witnesses found the child wandering around with no shoes.
Officer: “So what happened, it sounds like you got lost?”
Child: “Mhmm.”
Officer: “Did you get scared? Were you trying to go find Mama?”
Child: “Mhmm.”
Court documents state Albuquerque police responded to an apartment complex off Montgomery, near San Pedro, after employees called about the child walking around with no adult, and shoes missing. Responding officers said the child was covered in dirt, and had soiled pants, and socks with holes in them. The child also told the officer he didn’t know when he last ate a meal.
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The six-year-old told officers his mother had slept at a friend’s apartment with a man. When the child woke up, there were no adults in the apartment, so he left and started looking for his mom.
Child: “I woke up in the apartment, and I saw my mom wasn’t there.”
After speaking with the child, Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officers gave him new shoes, and socks, and helped to get him clean. With help from the New Mexico Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD), officers were able to reach the mother, later identified as Paula Martin, several hours later. Due to the child’s condition at the time, officers believed he was abandoned.
“I found out who the mom is, but she won’t even answer the phone,” one of the responding officers stated.
Martin gave police conflicting stories. She started by telling them that she had left the apartment to give a friend a ride and left the child asleep on the couch. She later changed that story and said she was asleep in another room. The police were told the apartment Martin had stayed at was known to be a “drug apartment.”
Police found Martin’s vehicle, but it was never at the apartment complex during their response. The vehicle was found to have bullet holes on the body and casings inside the car. Pieces of a disassembled firearm were also found inside the vehicle next to a child’s booster seat.
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Officer: “So, you’re using that vehicle to transport your child and with a disassembled firearm?”
Paula Martin: “I didn’t think there was more than one piece in there?”
Officer: “So, you knew there was?”
Paula Martin: “Yes.”
The child was said to be okay. Martin was detained at that time and charged with child abuse. She has since been released.
