PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — Two Reno women are facing charges after allegedly abandoning two toddlers at a fire station in Alta, Calif. on Tuesday.
The alleged incident happened around 2:45 p.m. at the Cal Fire station in Alta.
According to Lt. Nelson Resendes, spokesperson for the Placer County Sheriff’s Office, firemen at the station reported that the women pulled up, dropped off a little boy and girl -- one a 2-year-old and the other 4 years old -- and drove away before they could be confronted.
The firemen were able to get a good description of their vehicle to law enforcement, Resendes said.
About an hour and a half later, Placer County Sheriff’s Deputies caught up with the women at a gas station near Douglas Boulevard and Harding Boulevard in Roseville. Resendes said deputies had enough probable cause to arrest the women.
One of the women, 45-year-old Chanda Cleveland, was the grandmother of the two children who were left at the Alta fire station, investigators said. The second woman, 47-year-old Ananda Bowman, was an aunt to the two toddlers. The mother of the two children is “not in the picture,” according to Resendes.
Both Cleveland and Bowman were taken to jail. Cleveland is facing a charge of felony child abandonment. Bowman is facing a misdemeanor complaint for child endangerment.
An 8-year-old boy was in the car with the two women at the time of their arrest. Resendes said the boy is Cleveland’s son. All three children were taken into police custody with the goal of getting them reunited with “responsible adults,” Resendes said. The two children were in the care of firefighters for approximately 30 minutes.
“The case is being handled by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office and Child Protective Services,” said Mary Eldridge with Cal Fire’s Nevada Yuba Placer division.
