Utah woman arrested after leaving disabled 4-year-old in van, police say

UTAH COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — A van driver is facing a criminal charge after failing to drop off a four-year-old child at home from the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind.

Police said the child was found in the van, still buckled in, nearly three hours after school ended.

Patricia Lea Kitchen, 70, of Lehi, was arrested on suspicion of neglecting a child with a disability, a third-degree felony, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office said.

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On May 2, Kitchen, who drives a van that transports children with disabilities to and from the Utah School for the Deaf and Blind, neglected to drop off the “4-year-old disabled child” at their home, the indictment states.

The van reportedly left the school at about 1:30 p.m., and the other children were home by 2:30-2:45 p.m.

At about 4 p.m., the child’s mother called the van company saying her child had not returned home.

According to the indictment, the van had been parked at Kitchen’s residence since about 3:30 p.m.

The van company used GPS tracking and found the child seated in the van, still buckled in, at about 4:15 p.m.

In a statement from the school, Public Information Officer Susan Thomas said students are transported from homes to school in vans by a private provider, Wasatch Transportation.

“Wasatch Transportation reported to the school that the driver forgot to drop off the student at the home, fortunately the child was left in the van for less than 5 minutes before the child was retrieved,” she said.

Wasatch Transportation also allegedly said they took “swift action” with Kitchen, so this will not happen again.

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