Northfield-area mom left 2 young kids home alone, cops say
Glenview police charge woman with child endangerment

By Brian Cox | Special to the Tribune
May 15, 2008

A north suburban mother was charged with misdemeanor child endangerment after she left her infant daughter and 5-year-old son home alone Tuesday afternoon so she could go job hunting, police said Wednesday.

Lorena Cortazar, 41, of the 1100 block of 11th Street in unincorporated Northfield, was arrested about 5 p.m. Tuesday after police were called to her mobile home by a worker who went to the residence to check on a water leak and found the children unattended, said Glenview Police Cmdr. Phil Perlini. He said that area is policed by Glenview officers.

Cortazar said she left for about an hour, Perlini said. Police were there when she returned; the infant was in a crib and the boy was wandering around the home, Perlini said.

"Some kind of action has to be taken when you leave kids that little alone for that amount of time," he said.

He said police do not believe the children have been neglected in the past and said the 5-year-old told them that his mother had not left them alone before.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating an allegation of neglect, but had no prior contact with the family, said DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe.

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