Latest local news, weather, high school sports in the Rio Grande Valley

A Brownsville mother is behind bars after her 4-year-old son was left alone in an SUV and had to be rescued by a security guard.

Brownsville police arrested 24-year-old Gloria Martinez on a child abandonment/endangerment charge late Tuesday afternoon.

Investigators told Action 4 News the incident happened in a parking lot near the WalMart on Boca Chica Boulevard just after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

A shopper told a security guard a small child was locked inside a green Ford Expedition and crying.

Police said the boy had been in the SUV for more than 30 minutes but that security guard was able to get the boy to open the door.

Paramedics looked at the child and told police that the boy appeared to be slightly dehydrated.

Investigators said Martinez returned to the car where police saw she was with two other children and another woman.

Police officers arrested Martinez and turned the children over to the custody of the woman, who was a relative.

Martinez appeared before a Brownsville municipal court judge on Wednesday morning where she was issued a $10,000 dollar bond.