A Florida woman has been arrested and charged after her car caught fire with her unattended children inside while she shoplifted inside a mall in Oviedo, police said.
The woman, identified as Alicia Moore, 24, parked in a Dillard’s parking lot around noon May 26, leaving two children in the car, according to the arrest report issued by the Oviedo Police Department.
Moore went inside the store where loss prevention personnel watched her and an unknown man shoplift items for about an hour, according to the report. Moore was leaving the store when she saw her car engulfed in flames, dropped the stolen merchandise and ran out of the store, police said.
Shoppers witnessed the fire and helped rescue the children from the flames, the report said. The two children were transported to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital and one child suffered first-degree burns “to her face and ears,” according to the report.
The car after the fire was extinguished. Oviedo Police Department
Moore was interviewed and requested an attorney. She was arrested by the neighboring Orlando Police Department “for outstanding warrants in other counties,” unrelated to the incident, the report said. While in custody at the Orange County Jail, Moore was charged with aggravated child neglect and arson, according to the report.
“It is undetermined what ignited the fire, however, if Moore was not being neglectful, it is unlikely [the child] would have been injured,” police said.
Moore also faced four additional charges of petty theft, battery, and assault from previous incidents and is being held on a $48,000 bond, according to jail records.
Moore was arraigned Friday and pleaded not guilty to both charges related to the incident with her children, Seminole County court records show.
CNN has reached out to Moore’s public defender for comment.
LowBackground8247 on June 3rd, 2023 at 20:21 UTC »
Thank god those poor children are okay… what a trashy mom
SubstantialPressure3 on June 3rd, 2023 at 19:34 UTC »
It is undetermined what ignited the fire, however, if Moore was not being neglectful, it is unlikely [the child] would have been injured,” police said.
If sounds like they are just throwing the book at her. Neglectful mother, yes. Previous outstanding warrants, fine.
But arson is intentionally setting a fire, she couldn't have intentionally set the fire if she left the children alone for an hour. Charging someone is one thing, making the charges stick is another thing entirely.
As to the other comments, someone intending to shoplift, but dumping all the items at the last minute when they know they have been busted is pretty common. That's someone who has learned from experience what will or won't get you arrested. If you don't take the items out of the store, technically it's not shoplifting, even if that was the intent.
I don't work retail anymore, thank God, but that's fairly common. And places with an iota of sense aren't going to ask their employees to risk their lives for some store items. They are just going to watch and document. Sometimes their behavior is pretty obvious, sometimes people are mistaken. I've been followed around a few times, I didn't think I was being suspicious.
ral315 on June 3rd, 2023 at 19:01 UTC »
How/why was she charged with arson? Child neglect I get, but how do you get to an arson charge on an accidental fire?