MELBOURNE, Fla. — A Melbourne woman was arrested after police said she left two young children inside a parked vehicle while she went into a Walmart.
According to an arrest affidavit, officers responded July 11 to the Walmart at 1000 N. Wickham Road after witnesses reported seeing two children alone inside a red Mitsubishi SUV.
Police said the vehicle was turned off, the windows were down and one child was crying. Witnesses told officers the woman had been inside the store for about 10 minutes before leaving and driving away.
Officers later stopped the vehicle near Eau Gallie Boulevard and John Rodes Boulevard.
The driver, identified as 33-year-old Lovenia Quintasha Measha Brooks, told officers she had gone inside to buy Pediasure and believed she had only been gone briefly, according to the affidavit.
Walmart surveillance video showed Brooks parked at 1:08 p.m. and returned nearly nine minutes later, police said.
The affidavit said one child was improperly secured in a rear-facing car seat and the other was not restrained. The heat index was about 96.6 degrees at the time, and a heat advisory was in effect.
Brooks was arrested on two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm. She was also cited for leaving a child in a vehicle and for child-restraint violations.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2026 Cox Media Group
