Mother arrested after police say she tied her son to a bush

SPRING VALLEY, N.Y. -- A Spring Valley mother who lives in a condo complex is facing charges after police say she tied her son to a bush.

Authorities say the 22-year-old woman, identified as Mery Isabel Quinde-Castro, babysits for someone else in the Blueberry Hill complex and that her 4-year-old son finished up preschool on Monday.

She reportedly had no one to take care of him but did not want to bring him to the house she works at or let the family she works for know she had her child with her, so she apparently tethered him to the bush by a leash attached to his backpack so that he wouldn't run around the complex.

A resident called 911 around 9 a.m. after seeing the child, and a maintenance worker also spotted the boy just as police were responding.

The boy was not hurt, but an ambulance was called the scene as a precaution.

"The mother is saying that the child was only tied out there for about 10 minutes," Spring Valley Police Chief Paul Modica said. "Regardless, 10 minutes or 10 seconds, our investigation is leaning closer to more than a half hour, 45 minutes that that child was out there."

At this point, it is unclear how long the woman intended to leave him tied to the bush.

"There (were) no signs of abuse or anything like that, but you have 4 1/2-year-old child tied to a bush in an apartment complex," Modica said.

She is now charged with endangering the welfare of a child.