2 Toddlers Left In Car As Mom Shops At Home Goods: Police

SHOREWOOD, IL — A 32-year-old Shorewood woman has entered not guilty pleas to two criminal charges of endangering the life or health of a child. Shorewood police say Molly Razpotnik left her two small children inside her vehicle while she went shopping at the Home Goods store on Brook Forest Avenue back on Sept. 24.

According to Shorewood deputy chief of police Jason Barten, officers were sent to the store's parking lot after someone noticed the two small children unattended in a vehicle. The children were not injured, and both were inside child safety seats, Barten said.

When she returned to her vehicle, Razpotnik told police that she only went into the Home Goods briefly to pay for her items, insisting that she just brought her children back to her vehicle after having them in the store with her, according to police.

However, Shorewood police officers obtained video camera footage from the Home Goods store and Razpotnik's version of events was not accurate, police said.

Video cameras showed that Razpotnik was inside the Home Goods for a lengthy period of time to do her shopping while her children were strapped into their car seats back in the Shorewood parking lot, Barten said.

Following a two-month-long investigation, Will County prosecutors filed two charges against the Shorewood woman last week. Razpotnik has retained Chicago attorney Sergei Kuchinski of the Kuchinski Law Group on West Wacker Drive.

Her next court appearance is set for Jan. 6 in Courtroom 304 of the Will County Courthouse.