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Toddler dies after being left in hot car while mom tended to marijuana plants, police say

Photo of Eustajia Dominguez Mojica provided by Tulare County Sheriff’s Department

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VISALIA, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) — A 3-year-old girl is dead and her mother has been arrested after investigators in California say she left the child in a hot car while she tended to a marijuana grow.

According to investigators, Visalia police responded to reports of a child who wasn’t breathing after being left in a parked vehicle for an extended period of time.

Police detectives say they believe the child, identified as Jessica Campos, was left in the vehicle for up to three hours before anyone discovered her. Investigators say the outdoor temperature was at least 100 degrees at the time.

An officer who was on an unrelated call nearby responded to the scene and took over CPR from family members who were trying to revive the child. Fire and ambulance personnel arrived and took over the efforts. The child was transported to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead, investigators say.

According to investigators, Jessica’s mother had been tending to a marijuana grow and processing marijuana during the time the child was left inside the vehicle.

Five people have now been arrested including Jessica’s mother Eustajia Dominguez Mojica, 28, and four other adults found in the residence at the time: Araceli Mojica, 33; Emmanuel Ortiz-Aguilar, 34; Valentin Aguilar Ortiz, 27; and Victor Flores Corona, 41.

Mojica, Ortiz-Aguilar, Ortiz, and Corona were booked for charges of child endangerment.

Eustajia Dominguez Mojica, the child’s mother, has been booked for charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.

Photo of Eustajia Dominguez Mojica provided by Tulare County Sheriff’s Department
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