Parents who left kids in car while drinking margaritas get one year in jail

By Isadora Vail | Monday, February 4, 2008, 11:10 AM

A mother and father who left their children in a car while they drank margaritas in a Hutto restaurant last year were each sentenced to one year in state jail today.

Beatriz Pedroza, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of endangering a child and driving while intoxicated.

She will also have to complete intensive outpatient care for alcoholism, parenting classes and any conditions that child protective services may require.

Pedroza is in the country illegally, according to court records, but will not face deportation.

Miguel Lopez, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering a child.

Since Lopez is in the country illegally, District Judge Ken Anderson said he will be deported after his sentence is served.

On Sept. 30, the couple went into Rio Grande restaurant in Hutto and drank margaritas for about a half-hour, according to an arrest affidavit filed in state District Court in Williamson County.

Passers-by saw two young children in the car and called police, who found a 1-year-old boy and a 5-month-old girl unsupervised in a Ford Expedition, according to the arrest affidavit.

Pedroza said she had been on Sixth Street in Austin earlier in the day before driving to Hutto, according to the affidavit.

Although the children were not injured, the affidavit states that both were crying and covered in sweat.

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