Neglect Outside White Marsh Mall Leads To Community Service

BALTIMORE, MD — A woman received 80 hours of community service for leaving three disabled people in a hot car outside the White Marsh Mall last summer, the Maryland Office of the Attorney General reported.

Kimberly Shamika Belton, 34, of Valley Frost Court in Cockeysville, was in the White Marsh Mall when a concerned citizen saw three older adults in the back of a vehicle and called 911, the attorney general said.

Belton worked as a caretaker for the three men, who had developmental disabilities, according to officials.

After an officer arrived, authorities said it was 20 minutes before Belton returned from buying food for herself in the mall; and the temperature was nearly 90 degrees that day — June 18, 2016.

Because the three elderly men were developmentally disabled, officials said they could not communicate with law enforcement or the concerned citizen.

Belton pleaded guilty to neglect of a vulnerable adult in the second degree.

She received a three-year suspended sentence Wednesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court and was ordered to perform 80 hours of community service for neglect, the attorney general said. Court records show that she is also forbidden from working with vulnerable adults.

Image via Shutterstock.