By Karen Zautyk
NUTLEY – A Newark woman who came to Nutley to do some grocery shopping was arrested last Thursday morning after she allegedly left three of her children – including two babies – locked in a steamy van at the ShopRite lot, police reported.
Officers responded to the Franklin Ave. supermarket shortly after 9 a.m. after an
anonymous caller alerted them to the situation. Inside the closed vehicle, police
said, they found three little girls “crying and in distress.” How long they had been left unattended in the 80-degree weather is not known.
The girls were 2 months old, 1 year and 6 years old.
Officers gained entry to the 1996 Plymouth van, ventilated it and calmed the children. Eventually, the mother, identified as 26-year-old Jennifer MacDonald, returned with
a fourth child – a 2-year-old daughter – and a cart full of groceries.
To read the full story, see this week’s issue of The Observer.
