A case has been dismissed involving an Oxford Oaks woman who had been accused of leaving a baby in a hot car.
Zoe-Anne Macken Folker, 24, who lives at 3306 Dzuro Drive, had been arrested Sept. 27 after the infant was spotted in the 2000 silver Honda passenger car at the Sumter County Tax Collector’s Office in Bushnell. It was 85 degrees and the baby was “crying and sweating from the heat inside the vehicle,” according to an arrest report from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office. EMS personnel were called to the scene to evaluate the infant, and her vital signs were found to be “within normal parameters.”
Folker reportedly parked the vehicle and entered the tax collector’s office at 4:30 p.m. that day. The baby had been left in the car for 11 to 12 minutes. The windows were rolled up and the air conditioning was not running, the report indicated.
She was arrested on a charge of child neglect.
However, earlier this month in Sumter County Court, the prosecutor’s office announced no information would be filed in the case.
“The timeframe in this case does not meet the statutory required 15 minutes and the child did not suffer any harm. For these reasons, the state is legally precluded from filing criminal charges in this case,” said Assistant State Attorney Daniel Geraghty.