Woman charged after leaving child in hot car while paying a fine

A woman has been charged with child abuse and neglect after police said she went inside a courthouse to pay a fine and left her infant in a hot vehicle.

The incident happened Friday afternoon, according to Plant City Police.

Brandi Leigh Guggino, 23, told authorities her girl was asleep when she went inside the Hillsborough County Courthouse to pay a fine. She told police she didn't expect to be in the building for so long.

Police were flagged down by concerned citizens. When officers removed the child from the car, the infant was “showing signs of distress,” police said in a news release.

The infant was sweating, her face was red and she was rubbing her eyes, police said. The girl was placed in an officer's car and eventually showed signs of cooling off.

According to the news release, the infant was left in her mother's car for about 11 minutes. Police said the temperature of her car seat was 123 degrees.

The infant was taken to Tampa General Hospital but did not appear to suffer any long-term injury, police said.

This story was originally published April 25, 2017 at 8:02 AM with the headline "Woman charged after leaving child in hot car while paying a fine."