Boardman Police charge women accused of leaving kids in cars while shopping

Police have charged two Youngstown women with child endangering after police say they left their children unattended in cars while they went shopping at two of Boardman’s busiest stores.

Both incidents happened on Wednesday.

Officers say they found two children, 7 and 2 years old, alone in a car parked outside the Walmart on Doral Drive.  One of the children complained that they were hot and thirsty.

One car window was rolled down.  The police report says the temperature that afternoon was 81 degrees.

Police say parking lot surveillance video shows that 23 minutes went by from when 38-year-old Ebony McBride left the kids, and when she returned to the car.

The report says the video doesn’t show McBride coming out to check on the children during that time.

About four hours later at Sam’s Club parking lot on South Avenue, police found three children, ages 2,6, and 7 by themselves in an open convertible.

The mother, 34-year-old Kemeisha Harris, came out of the store while police were there, claiming she just went inside to buy trash bags and had been in contact with her oldest child via Facetime.

Police looked at surveillance video and found Harris left the children unsupervised for 16 minutes. The Police report says her cell phone log showed she had been on a Facetime call for two minutes.

Both women were handcuffed and arraigned Thursday in Mahoning County Court.

Further court hearings are scheduled on May 23 for the women.