Woman Charged with Child Endangerment

 Posted on August 02, 2012 in Assault & Battery

Joheidi Martinez, 30, of Chicago, drove herself to a hearing at the Skokie Courthouse, but she was taken away in handcuffs. Martinez did not arrive at the courthouse alone. She brought along her eight year old goddaughter and two dogs. And police say she left the child and the dogs alone in her car for over an hour.

According to a report in the Chicago Sun Times, a witness told a deputy at the courthouse that a child and two dogs had been sitting in a car parked in a parking garage adjacent to the courthouse for over an hour. The deputy found the girl and the dogs in a gold four-door sedan parked in the parking lot. The child told the deputy that she was waiting for her godmother to come back.

Authorities tracked Martinez down in the courthouse and she claimed that “didn’t realize how long” she was gone or “how hot it was outside.” The Sun reports that the temperature and heat index was in the low eighties. Although neither the child nor the dogs were injured, the Department of Children and Family Services were called in to investigate the incident. Both the little girl and the dogs were released into the custody of the girl's mother.

Martinez was charged with endangerment of a child and animal abandonment. Bond was set at $6000 and she posted 10 percent and was released. Martinez& past criminal record includes a 2001 arrest for retail theft,  driving on a suspended license in 2003, resisting/obstructing a peace officer in 2003 and again another charge of resisting/obstructing a peace officer in 2007, battery causing bodily harm in 2012 and aggravated battery to a peace officer in May 2012.

If you have been arrested, especially with multiple past arrests, you need an experienced criminal defense attorney to protect your rights. Our Naperville criminal defense lawyers are here to help you minimize the consequences of multiple criminal charges.