{"id":367942,"date":"2026-07-10T06:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T06:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367942\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T06:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T06:24:23","slug":"texas-mother-charged-after-leaving-baby-young-children-home-alone-for-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/367942\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas mother charged after leaving baby, young children home alone for hours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kwtx.com\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/kwtx.com\">HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) \u2014<\/a> Deputies with Constable Mark Herman\u2019s Office arrested a woman after investigators said three young children were found alone during a welfare check Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Deputies responded July 8 to the 19400 block of Cavern Springs Drive after neighbors reported several small children wandering outside without an adult. <\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">When deputies arrived, they discovered three children \u2014 ages 1, 3 and 4 \u2014 had been left home alone, according to the constable\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"figure-img img-fluid mx-auto d-block\" alt=\"Madeline Colunga was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail on a charge of child...\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/PSQJ76TKRJHQPH2XWW5UFVPVDE.jpg\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" \/>Madeline Colunga was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail on a charge of child endangerment. Her bond was set at $5,000 in the 176th District Court.(KWTX GRAPHIC)<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Investigators said they made multiple attempts to contact the children\u2019s mother but received no response. Deputies later reached a family member who came to the scene and was able to contact the mother by phone. A short time later, the mother, identified as Madeline Colunga, returned to the home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">During the investigation, Colunga was unable to provide a reasonable explanation for leaving the children unattended, officials said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Child Protective Services was notified, and the children were released to a guardian at the scene.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Colunga was arrested and booked into the Harris County Jail on a charge of child endangerment. Her bond was set at $5,000 in the 176th District Court.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cThe safety of our children is always our highest priority,\u201d Constable Herman said, thanking neighbors for calling 911.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 KWTX. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) \u2014 Deputies with Constable Mark Herman\u2019s Office arrested a woman after investigators said three&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[130365,130366,130367,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-367942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-constable-mark-herman","tag-harris-county-constable-mark-herman","tag-madeline-colunga","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}