Newly released body camera footage shows Hialeah police arriving at a home where a 13-year-old girl was found chained to a fence this past summer. Her mother, 34-year-old Yashira Maldonado, was arrested and faces felony charges of child abuse and neglect. She has since been released from jail on bond.
According to police, Maldonado used a metal chain to secure her daughter, who has special needs, to the fence on July 11 after sending her family a text saying she had lost her job. The incident occurred at a home near 355 West 63rd Street and Fourth Avenue in Hialeah.
Officers said the chain was fastened around the girl's waist and that Maldonado left her there. The child's great-grandmother discovered her but could not get the chain off. She then called 911. The body camera recording shows officers encountering both the girl and her great-grandmother when they reached the home.
Speaking after the discovery over the summer, Hialeah Police officer Eddie Rodriguez described the conditions in which the girl had been left. “She was out in the sun, no water, no shade, no shoes,” he said. Photographs from the scene showed the fence and chain, along with a backpack, medication and shoes that had been left with the child.
The footage also captures officers confronting Maldonado at her apartment and escorting her away. According to an arrest report, she told investigators that after leaving her daughter, she put her phone on silent so incoming calls and text messages would not produce audible alerts. The report said she deliberately ignored her phone and returned home to lie in bed and watch television.
An arrest form also said Maldonado acknowledged that her actions were wrong and looked bad. According to that document, she told investigators she felt overwhelmed by caring for her daughter and wanted a break.
Authorities also released a 911 call made by the girl's father, who was out of town when the incident happened. He told a Hialeah police dispatcher that his former wife's mother had contacted him about finding his daughter abandoned and tied to a chain. In the call, he described the location as an apartment.
