Mother Charged After Daughters Were Found Alone with No Coats in 8-Degree Weather By Charna Flam

An Ohio woman was charged with endangering children after authorities discovered her 3-year-old and 8-year-old daughters were outside in sub-freezing temperatures in Mentor, Ohio, on Thursday, Jan. 29.

Laura Beitler, 36, was arrested by the Mentor Police Department (MPD) on Thursday, Jan. 29. Officers responded to a call around 12:25 a.m. local time, reporting there was a small child “alone in the parking lot” of the Extended Stay America hotel, the MPD said in a news release.

The child, a 3-year-old girl, was only wearing “a sweater in temperatures of 8 degrees with 10 mph winds,” police said. She was placed in the officers’ warm patrol vehicle. “With assistance from hotel residents, officers determined she had been staying at the hotel with her family,” according to the news release.

Officers located the room where the girl’s family was staying and found the child’s mother, Beitler, who said she was sleeping and didn’t know her younger daughter was gone. It was during her conversation with authorities that she “discovered her 8-year-old daughter was also missing.”

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More Mentor Police officers responded to the scene and worked with the Lake County drone team, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, and Mentor-on-the-Lake Police Department to search for the older daughter.

“Shortly thereafter, a resident reported locating the 8-year-old girl outside the nearby Hampton Inn,” according to the news release. Like the toddler, the older daughter was not dressed for the extreme weather and was only wearing a T-shirt and sneakers. She was also placed in the warm patrol car.

The Mentor Fire Department medics transported both girls to TriPoint Medical Center for evaluation, where no injuries were reported.

Beitler was taken into custody and charged with endangering children. The girls’ father took custody of them when he arrived at the scene. He had been “away earlier due to a family emergency,” per the news release.

MPD expressed gratitude to the residents who alerted authorities, saying, “Their quick and decisive actions helped ensure a positive outcome in a situation which could have easily turned tragic.”

The law enforcement agency also issued a reminder due to the current extreme cold weather. “All parents and caregivers [should] supervise young children closely, secure doors and windows, and never leave children unattended – even briefly – as temperatures this low can pose life-threatening risks in minutes.”

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PEOPLE reached out to the Metro Police Department for comment.