Lehigh Acres woman accused of leaving 2 children in vehicle unattended at store parking lot

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. —

A woman was arrested after she was accused of leaving two children with no supervision in a vehicle for 30 minutes in the parking lot of Walmart on Lee Boulevard in Lehigh Acres Saturday.

According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office, Nancy Elizabeth Guagua Cortez, 38, is accused of leaving two small children crying and seemingly in distress in a white Kia SUV. The vehicle was running and the doors were unlocked.

A witness told deputies about what happened, but deputies arrived after the vehicle had left. LCSO got ahold of Guagua Cortez and attempted to detain her, but deputies say she is accused of tensing up, preventing deputies from placing her in handcuffs, breaking a deputy's watch and resisting going into the patrol vehicle.

Deputies said the children appeared to be healthy with no apparent illnesses or injuries. The Florida Department of Children and Families was contacted to begin a parallel investigation, and LCSO's Special Victims Unit took over the investigation.

Walmart's asset protection video was reviewed and Guagua Cortez was seen arriving at the store at 2:26 and leaving at 2:57 p.m. She was also accused of being on the phone for about 13 minutes from a lobby camera, deputies said.

DCF then took custody of the children.

Guagua Cortez is facing charges on two counts of leaving children unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle and a count of resisting without violence, according to the sheriff's office.

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