A Houston mother was charged after authorities allege she placed her 13-year-old son in the trunk of her car in an attempt to isolate him after he had tested positive for COVID-19 and then took him to a drive-thru testing site.
The 41-year-old is charged with endangering a child. Authorities allege her son was found on Monday in her car’s trunk at a testing site for the Cypress-Fairbanks school district in northwest Houston. The woman is a teacher with the district, which said in a statement that the child was not harmed.
The charge was filed Wednesday but not made public until Friday.
The school district’s director of health services, Bevin Gordon, was gathering information from vehicles that were in line for COVID-19 testing at a district stadium on Monday when she discovered that the 13-year-old was in the trunk of a car, according to a court document.
“(The mother) stated that she put (her son) inside the trunk to prevent her from getting exposed to possible COVID while driving (him) to the stadium for additional testing,” according to the court document.
Gordon later called the school district’s police department.
The woman had not yet been arrested or turned herself in, according to authorities.
Court records did not list an attorney for her.
She has worked for the Cypress-Fairbanks school district since 2011. The district said she is on administrative leave.