Teacher's Aide Charged After Daughter Found Naked, Eating Trash

EMECULA, Calif. (KTLA) -- A teacher's aide has been charged with child endangerment after leaving her 12-year-old daughter naked in a car outside her school.

Tracy Lynn Betts, 41, is accused of parking her car near Vail Elementary School where she worked and leaving the girl inside, according to the Riverside County district attorney's office.

Betts walked to work after allegedly abandoning the girl, according to the district attorney's office.

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Sheriff's deputies responded to the area after a 911 caller reported seeing a naked girl walking through the neighborhood, fishing food from trashcans.

"Officers found the girl hiding in a car belonging to Betts," the district attorney's office said in a statement.

"The passenger-side window was cracked about an inch and there was no food, water or clothing found in the car."Sheriff's officials say Betts apparently took her daughter's clothes to prevent her from leaving the vehicle.

Neighbors told officials the child was trying to cover herself with a car floor mat.The child was placed in protective custody in February.Information about her current status was not immediately available.

If convicted, Betts could serve up to one year in jail.