Three weeks after he last saw his roommate, a man called Palm Beach County sheriff’s authorities to check on her children.
Inside an unfurnished room on Nov. 8, deputies found three children huddled in the far corner. The children said they hadn’t seen Maria Trinidad Perez for more than a few minutes in two weeks. They did not have food or water and had not gone to school in days. The youngest, 3, had a fever and a cut from an exposed pipe.
Deputies arrested Perez, a 32-year-old on three counts of child neglect. Early Saturday she posted a $9,000 surety bond and was released from the Palm Beach County Jail.
Court records redact the relationship between Perez and the children as well as the location of the home where they were living, though records indicate she was the children’s primary caregiver.
The oldest of the three children, a pre-teen, said he last saw Perez at about 6 p.m. Nov. 7 when he met her in a carport and she dropped off McDonald’s for him, the 3-year-old and an elementary school-aged boy.
The children said they only had access to food and water when Perez brought them some or when they were at school. They knew to use the phone someone had given them to call 911 in an emergency.
When deputies reached Perez by phone she said she couldn’t return home because she was at work. Her roommate told authorities that Perez does not have a job.
Perez showed up a few minutes later and appeared disheveled. A deputy asked why the children, who were dressed for school, were late. By then it was nearly noon. Perez did not seem concerned, the deputy noted.
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