Mother, Acquaintance Allegedly Left Baby in Cold Car While Shopping at Southington Adult Store

A mother and her acquaintance were arrested by Southington Police after they allegedly left an infant alone inside a vehicle while shopping at an adult store.

Police were called to the parking lot of the VIP store located on Queen Street on Jan. 4 around 11:00 a.m., said Lt. Michael Baribault, police spokesman.

They found the child alone in a vehicle that was not running, Baribault said.

Upon further investigation, police learned that mother Lindsay Hoffmann, 26, of Waterbury and acquaintance Marquette Riggsbee, 54, of New Haven entered the store with the infant. Workers told the couple that infants weren’t allowed in the adult store, Baribault said.

The couple left the store and returned shortly after.

Employees became concerned and went to check the parking lot. They found an infant alone in a car seat, Baribault said. They called police.

Officers secured the infant and contacted an AMR ambulance to check on the infant’s health. The infant was transported to the hospital. Its core temperature was adequate but it did have cold extremities, Baribault said.

The infant had been in the car alone for over 20 minutes.

Both Hoffmann and Riggsbee were charged with risk of injury to a minor and leaving a child unsupervised. They were each held in lieu of $25,000 bail.

Riggsbee was arrested in August 2014 on charges of trafficking persons, conspiracy, coercion, promoting prostitution and unlawful restraint, according to court records. He has pleaded not guilty to charges and is awaiting trial.

Hoffmann pleaded guilty to prostitution and failure to appear in 2013, according to court records.

The Department of Children and Families was notified and is investigating the case.

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