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An Augusta woman was arrested Friday morning for leaving her 2-year-old son in her car alone at SRP Credit Union, the second local mom charged with that offense in the last week.

Vanessa Washington, 51, is accused of leaving her child strapped in a child seat in a locked car with the windows rolled up and the engine off.
A witness, who happened to be a sheriff’s investigator, reported the incident after hearing the child crying in the parking lot of the Tobacco Road credit union.

When the witness looked inside the Chrysler Town & Country, he saw the child strapped in the car but couldn’t get to the distraught boy. He found the mother inside the credit union.

The child was turned over to his father and Ms. Washington was arrested for deprivation of a minor.

The incident happened just three days after an Aiken woman was jailed for the same thing. Denise Zimmerman, 42, of Aiken, was arrested last Tuesday after leaving her 2-year-old girl in the car alone while shopping at Hobby Lobby, authorities said. She was charged with unlawful neglect of a child in the Sept. 17 incident.

A witness saw the girl alone in a Chevrolet Tahoe and called police after waiting 10 minutes to see if someone came back, a public safety report says. The child was strapped into a car seat, and the vehicle was running.

When Aiken officers arrived, the child complained of being hungry. Yet Zimmerman did not return until almost 20 minutes after police arrived.