Mom: Son left alone in day care van, found wandering in street

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Tina Cortez is relieved that little Ruben is back in her arms. But she is still upset about what happened Wednesday.

"From what he told me, he was left on the bus, he woke up, he was hot and sweaty, and he got out of the bus, and he started wondering off," Cortez said.

The four-year-old is picked up every day from school by a Precious Moments day care van. He is then supposed to be dropped off at the Successful Starters day care. But that didn't happen Wednesday.

Carla Ford runs Successful Starters.

"Well, we have six students here they pick up for us, but it's not abnormal to not have all six children because of absences," Ford said.

Instead, Ruben ended up at the nearby Precious Moments day care parking lot. He apparently walked out of the van and down the street before another child's parent found him.

"He could've gotten attacked by a dog, could have gotten run over. I'm trying to keep it from happening to any other parent, that's my concern," Cortez said.

A frustrated Cortez met with the owners of both day cares Thursday, trying to figure out how her son could have been left on the van. But so far there have been no solid answers.

"My thing is this is not a small incident. We want to make sure all the policies and procedures are followed and we're still interviewing the staff to find out what happened," said Amy Tomlinson, attorney for Precious Moments day care.

The Houston Police Department was called and a report was issued. HPD tells Eyewitness News says an investigator will be looking over the case; however, it appears to be a mistake by the van driver and there was no criminal intent involved.