Lang
1/11/22
A Coralville woman faces charges that she left her young children alone in a car on a hot day last spring.
28-year-old Rosana Coleman of Coral Court was booked into the Johnson County Jail just after 3am Tuesday. University of Iowa Police say Coleman left her six-year-old daughter and ten-month-old son inside her 2010 Ford Escape while it was parked in Ramp 4 of the UI Hospitals and Clinics on the afternoon of May 24th while she spent about an hour inside. The incident was reported by another motorist inside the ramp.
The temperature at the time the children were found was 84F. Police say the car was turned off and the keys were left inside.
An investigation determined that Coleman had told the children not to move around so as to not draw attention to themselves. Police say she later claimed she had gone back to the vehicle to check on the children, but a witness said she only returned when officers requested she come back to the car.
Coleman is charged with two counts of Child Endangerment. If convicted, she faces a maximum of four years in prison.