Mother arrested for leaving toddler in car while shopping

A 43-year-old St. Charles woman was arrested by Elgin police Monday afternoon on charges she left her 20-month-old son in her van while she shopped.

John Harris, an off-duty Elgin firefighter, noticed the boy wrapped in a blanket in a child seat in the rear of a locked van at 12:24 p.m. in the parking lot of Target, 300 S. Randall Road in Elgin, police said. The vehicle was not running.

"The temperature was eight degrees outside at the time with a wind chill factor of minus 11," Elgin Deputy Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said,

Pamela Weberski, of Campton Crossing Drive, was charged with endangering the life/health of a child, police said. The charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Police determined Weberski had been in the store shopping for about 25 minutes when the child was discovered.

Weberski posted a $100 bond Monday afternoon and the child was released to his father, police said.

Information has been turned over to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services which will likely conduct an investigation of the incident, Swoboda said.