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Authorities arrested a woman on Tuesday for allegedly leaving her young granddaughter stranded at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), per reports from Houston-based media outlets.
Fifty-one-year-old Euceda Letbia Maldonado is alleged to have left the girl at Terminal A and boarded a Honduras-bound flight without her.
Houston ABC affiliate KTRK reported that Maldonado apparently told the 8-year-old child to wait for her parents to come, but witnesses told police they found the girl afraid and in tears.
"Three airline employees noticed a child crying in Terminal A ... crying out for her parents," Houston Airport System (HAS) Communications Director Augusto Bernal said, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported.
According to KTRK, authorities subsequently tracked Maldonado to the aircraft before it pushed back from the gate and apprehended her.
KHOU reported that the grandmother faces a charge of child abandonment with no intent to return.
The station reported that Maldonado had a court appearance on Thursday in which her granddaughter’s mother explained she bore responsibility for what had transpired at the city’s main air gateway, which is among the busiest in the country.
Per KHOU, Mabel Maldonado told the court her daughter being left behind was all a misunderstanding, saying she left IAH to retrieve the child’s passport after realizing she forgot it.
The younger Maldonado supposedly instructed her mother to leave the child at a food court in Terminal A and board the flight, the station reported.
Mabel Maldonado added that she and her daughter spoke on the phone the whole time, KHOU reported.
Houston NBC affiliate KPRC reported that the grandmother was transported to the Harris County Jail, where she posted a $200 bond and was released.
The next time she’ll appear before a judge for her arraignment will be in September, KPRC reported.
It’s unclear whether the girl’s parents were implicated with anything in relation to the incident.