Hialeah woman chained her special-needs daughter to a fence, police say

A Hialeah woman chained her daughter, who has special needs, to a metal fence Saturday after being fired from her job, police said.

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Yashira Maldonado, 34, took her 13-year-old daughter to her mother’s house on the 300 block of West 63rd Street around 9 a.m., police said, and then wrapped a chain around the girl’s waist, attaching the other end to the fence.

Maldonado then got into her Toyota Camry and drove away, according to police, who say the incident was captured on nearby security-camera footage. Maldonado left the girl with a clear backpack, clothes, medication, diapers and wipes, her arrest report states.

Maldonado then texted her mother, telling her she was fired and that the girl was outside chained to the fence, according to the report.

The mother told police that after receiving the text, she opened her front door and saw her granddaughter chained to the fence, the report states. The woman tried to free the girl, but couldn’t. Police arrived minutes later and freed the girl. The report states she was in good health, but was left without shade from the sun and without food and water for almost an hour.

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Police detained Maldonado at her apartment on the 1100 block of West 28th Street. At the station, she told them that she left her daughter chained to the fence because she was overwhelmed and wanted a break from caring for the girl, the report states.

She also told officers that after leaving her mother’s house, she put her phone on silent so she could lie in bed and watch television at her home, according to the report.

Police booked Maldonado into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on two counts of felony child neglect. She has since been released on a $10,000 bond. She has entered a written plea of not guilty. The Miami Herald has reached out to her attorney, who works at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office and did not immediately respond.

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