IMPD: 3 kids found playing alone in street

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Police arrested an Indianapolis mother Sunday night after people reported finding her three children playing in the street by themselves.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department received a call at 7:15 p.m. Sunday that two children were walking in the 5000 block of West Morris Street and a third was riding a tricycle in the middle of the street, according to a police report. The children were 1, 3 and 6 years old.

The grandmother of the children happened upon police and told them where the mother of the children lived. One of the kids told police his mom was asleep and he could find the house by seeing a green car in front of it and an open door to the home.

Officers went to the woman’s home, where a man let them inside, the police report said. The mother of the children was in a bedroom with the door closed. Witnesses told police it wasn’t the first time the mother had left her children alone.

While transporting the children home, an officer noticed one of the children’s diapers was leaking all over the child.

Police arrested 23-year-old Mary Garcia-Vela on three preliminary charges of neglect of a dependent, all Class D felonies. While being detained, Garcia-Vela told police it was all her mother’s fault for being a bad mother, the police report said. Garcia-Vela later admitted to police that it was her responsibility to take care of her children.