KEY WEST, Fla. – Key West police arrested a west Miami-Dade woman on a felony charge early Thursday morning after they said she and her 8-year-old son were found living in a filthy car filled with trash and insects.
According to an arrest report from the Key West Police Department, the boy was covered in sores, some “actively bleeding,” and officers found an unrelated homeless man in the vehicle.
Recommended Videos
Police said officers first encountered Maggy Rae Alvarez, 44, and her son on Saturday after a car crash. The pair were with a man at the time.
The report states that Alvarez told officers that they were “on vacation” with the man and did not live in Key West. Officer Joshua Hesse wrote that there was evidence of drug use from both adults, but no probable cause existed for an arrest.
At the time, Hesse wrote, the boy “appeared healthy, though he did have some bug bites on his extremities,” but “they were not inflamed, reddened, or open.”
Nine hours later, early Sunday morning, police said they found the three sleeping in their vehicle.
“During this incident, concerns about the child’s safety and overall care were noted, and the Department of Children and Families was contacted with a report taken,” Hesse wrote. “The outcome of that report is not currently known.”
Police said they would later learn that KWPD officers had encountered them six times since that Saturday.
“Several of the reports included information about local homeless people being present with (the child), with (witnesses) reporting drug use by the people in (his) presence,” the report states.
But a report late Wednesday night would lead to Alvarez’s arrest. Police said they responded to a business at 335 Duval St. just after 11 p.m. after its manager called and said that several people were sleeping in the parking lot, and asking for them to be trespassed.
They said they found Alvarez seemingly under the influence of drugs and the child “curled up in the front seat, asleep.”
“I immediately noted the child to have numerous lesions on his skin on both his arms and legs. The sores were found to be raised, reddened, and appeared infected, with some actively bleeding,” Hesse wrote. “I asked Maggy what happened, and she initially told me they were bug bites but later stated he had a fungal skin infection that required a topical ointment that she did not have.”
Alvarez explained she didn’t seek treatment for her son because his doctor wasn’t local and couldn’t explain why she hadn’t gone to an urgent care or hospital, police said.
“I noted the lesions to be in various stages of healing; however, some were actively bleeding,” Hesse wrote. “I additionally noted that his skin was visibly soiled, which I knew posed a significant risk of infection.”
Police said despite having a “loud conversation” around the boy, he did not wake up. Authorities said they found a man also inside the vehicle that officers determined was a homeless person Alvarez was “attempting to help out.”
Alvarez and her son “appeared to be living inside the vehicle, which was not running and had no climate control,” police said.
The vehicle had a “filthy” interior, packed with items “in nearly every space” and cockroaches, the report states.
Medics took the boy to the hospital after Hesse noted that while Alvarez was “sweating profusely” from being in the hot vehicle, her son wasn’t.
“Due to my training and experience as a paramedic, I know a person may stop sweating when their body temperature rises to dangerous levels,” the officer wrote.
The boy’s skin was “hot and dry to the touch” and he would only respond to “loud verbal stimuli,” leading medics to take him to Lower Keys Medical Center for evaluation.
Police said the boy was later discharged from the hospital and placed into DCF custody; officers arrested Alvarez, who tested positive for THC and benzodiazepines, on a charge of child neglect without great bodily harm.
She remained in the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Key West jail facility on a $10,000 bond as of Thursday afternoon, online records show. She’s scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment hearing on July 26.