Woman arrested for leaving 2-year-old in a vehicle with a stranger

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Salt Lake City woman has been arrested for leaving her 2-year-old in a vehicle with a stranger while she slept for several hours.

Chantelle Erichsen Rees, 32, is facing charges of felony child endangerment and child abandonment.

According to an arrest record filed by the Salt Lake City Police Department (SLCPD), Rees reported that her 2-year-old child was missing after she left him in a vehicle with an unknown male.

Rees told police that she had met the man at a gas station and “exchanged clear with him for gas money.” She then drove him to a nearby apartment complex, leaving her child with him in the vehicle while she went upstairs to shower and use the bathroom.

According to police, Rees said that she had not slept in eight days because she had been using drugs, and fell asleep while in the apartment. When Rees woke up, she couldn’t find the vehicle and waited several hours to call the police.

Rees told police that “she should have known better than to leave her child with a male she had just met.” She recalled the man telling her he was experiencing psychosis, and she described him as “paranoid and trippin’.”

Police responded to the area of 951 West 500 South in Salt Lake City where they took Rees’ report before locating the vehicle with the unknown male and her child.

In an interview with the man, he told police that Rees went to the apartment, brought the child to the vehicle, and then went back inside, leaving him alone with the 2-year-old. The man told police he tried to call Rees, but she didn’t pick up.

He left with the child after a few hours to figure out how to care for him. The man reportedly tried to give the child water and snacks, but said the child’s health was declining. Officers who located the two reported that the 2-year-old seemed lethargic.

According to Rees, she was struggling because she was homeless and living out of her car with her 2-year-old. She told police that she had some childcare supplies donated to her, but “felt bad her child was sleeping in a vehicle.”

Rees has been booked into the Salt Lake County Jail and is currently being held on bail.