Authorities Ponder Mother’s Actions

Police continued investigating the weekend incident in which a mother left her year-old daughter with a teenager, who tried to use the toddler to mask shoplifting a jacket from the local mall.

Authorities have yet to decide whether to charge the mother, Teresa Zavala, with child endangerment and abandonment, but they are charging the 17-year-old boy with burglary.

The baby remained with Child Protective Services on Monday, pending completion of the police investigation.

Zavala told police she had left her daughter with friends on Saturday and had no reason to be concerned about her safety.

But the toddler was found when the teenage boy, who told police he was in the United States illegally, was arrested trying to use the child to cover up price tags on a coat he tried to wear out of the J C Penney store in the Grand Teton Mall, police said.

Penney employees say they saw him looking at the San Francisco 49ers jacket for two days.

After video of the little girl was aired on local news broadcasts, relatives including the child’s grandmother and godmother called police to identify her.