Deputies: Mom left toddlers alone with dogs and shotgun

A 3-year-old girl called 911, and although the dispatcher couldn’t understand her, deputies found the toddler in a mobile home with a younger boy, an aggressive dog, a shotgun within reach and no adults, investigators said.

The mother of the children, Yajaira Tirado, 26, was arrested Tuesday on two counts of child neglect after telling deputies she had left the children alone to have coffee with a man in another section of the mobile-home park, according to a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office report. Tirado is out of jail on $5,000 bail and could not be reached for comment.

In the 911 call, the girl can be heard talking to the dispatcher, who had a hard time understanding her, and dogs were whining in the background.

According to the report, a dispatcher sent deputies to the Oak Hill home about 8 a.m. Tuesday. They found a 3-year-old girl looking out the window, still on the phone. Deputies knocked on the door several times but got no response. They looked through the windows and saw a 1-year-old boy in a playpen; a loose, aggressive dog; and two other canines in a cage in the kitchen, the report states.

A deputy found a hole in a back door and tried to get in, but the dog forced him to retreat, investigators said. The deputy lured the dog away with food and got the 3-year-old girl out of the house. When the park manager arrived with keys to open the mobile home, deputies were also able to get the 1-year-old boy, reports state.

Deputies found the home in disarray, with hardly any food in the refrigerator and dog feces all over the floor. The children’s diapers were described as “severely soiled,” a report detailed.

A shotgun with ammunition was found within reach of the children, deputies said.

A deputy found Tirado about 9:30 a.m. in another section of the mobile-home park.

Investigators with the Department of Children and Families were called to the home and the children were turned over to their father, the report states.