Case dismissed against South Milwaukee mom accused of leaving kids in cold car while she shopped

SOUTH MILWAUKEE -- Prosecutors dropped charges filed against a South Milwaukee mother on Wednesday, Dec. 18 after the court found she complied with a deferred prosecution agreement.

Ashley Pirlot, 27, had faced two child neglect charges -- two felonies and a misdemeanor. All three counts were dismissed by prosecutors, and a February plea hearing was vacated.

According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to the Kmart in Cudahy on Nov. 16, 2018, where two women at the store told a dispatcher they were parked next to a car that had three children inside. The women indicated there were no adults around and the car was not running.

Officers arrived on the scene and found the 6-month-old, 1-year-old, and 6-year-old. Officers noticed the vehicle with the children was unlocked and the temperature outside at the time was 35 degrees -- not factoring in the wind chill. The infant was covered in a blanket but "her bare feet were sticking out and there was a plastic shopping bag at her feet within her reach that posed a choking hazard." The 1-year-old child was "only wearing a pajama onesie that was partially unzipped." That child was in a booster seat which was not appropriate for the child's size. The 6-year-old "was wearing a jacket and pants and was not seat belted in her seat." According to the complaint, officers noted "there were no diapers, formula, food, or drink cups inside the vehicle to care for the children."

The mother of the children, Pirlot, was located inside of the store after she was paged to come to the front desk. The complaint said when Pirlot was asked why she did not bring her children inside the store, she said she couldn't fit all the kids in the shopping cart and she did not want to deal with seat belts and the kids running around the store. Pirlot apparently told the 6-year-old child to "'watch them,' referring to the other children." Pirlot told police she believed "she had been in the store for maybe seven or eight minutes."

Officers were able to obtain surveillance video -- and determined Pirlot had been in the store for approximately 17 minutes before she came up to an officer after being paged. The complaint said "at no time is she observed to have any of her children with her and she is seen casually walking around and shopping."

In her interview with police, Pirlot told officers "that her mother had been arrested for leaving Pirlot and her sister in a vehicle while she watched the Packers game when Pirlot was a baby and her sister was young."