Mother Cited For Abuse After Leaving Children With Stranger: Police

Updated 6 p.m.:

HERNDON, VA — Herndon Police arrested 24-year-old Paola Alejandra Salinas Padilla of Reston for child abuse after she left her two children at a stranger's home on Thursday, according to a post on the department's official Twitter account.

Salinas Padilla left her two children around 3 p.m., on Thursday, at a home in the 1200 block of Elden Street, telling the strangers that she would pick them up by 11 p.m., according to police. She failed to do that.

Police sent out an alert on social media around 11:30 a.m. on Friday, asking for the public's help in identifying and locating the children's mother. An update posted at 1:35 p.m. on the department's official Twitter account said the children's mother had been found.

Salinas Padilla was charged with two felony counts of abuse and neglect of a child. She was transported to Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, where she is being held on a $3,000 bond.