Mother accused of child neglect for leaving baby alone
Friends find 10-month-old in puddle of urine
Gloria Celeste Moore
Contributed photo
A Gresham woman stands accused of child neglect after allegedly leaving her 10-month-old baby home alone while she went out drinking with friends.
Gloria Celeste Moore, 19, of Gresham was released on her own recognizance at 9:15 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10, after being arrested early Saturday, Nov. 8, on accusations of second-degree child neglect.
Moore reportedly left the baby for six hours in a playpen in the Berry Ridge Apartments in the 2700 block of West Powell Boulevard, said Officer Adam Baker, a Gresham police spokesman.
Baker said the incident began when officers responded to a report at 12:25 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, of a woman screaming for help in the apartment complex parking lot. Neighbors reported hearing the woman yelling that someone was trying to take her daughter.
As Gresham police arrived, they stopped a vehicle that was just about to leave the parking lot and officers contacted its occupants, including Moore and her 10-month-old daughter.
During the investigation, Moore’s friends told police that they discovered the woman had left her baby home alone while they’d been out drinking.
Although the friends knew Moore had a baby, Moore reportedly told them a babysitter was watching the child. At the end of the evening, the friends became suspicious when Moore wouldn’t let them into her apartment with her.
“Either she was acting nervous or suspicious, but there was some sort of intuition on the part of the friends,” Baker said.
The friends eventually forced Moore to allow them into the apartment to see the child. Inside, they found the baby girl alone in a playpen in a puddle of urine.
Knowing that the baby’s father, who lives with the woman and baby, would be shocked by the news, the friends thought Moore might be in danger and tried to get the woman and the baby to come with them to Oregon City where they’d be safe for the evening.
But when talk turned toward having the father come get the baby, Moore started screaming in the parking lot and neighbors called police.
The baby’s father arrived shortly after police did and police released the baby to him, Baker said.
Moore didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.