A woman who deputies say was passed out in her car while her child wandered around a busy intersection in York County is going to a grand jury.
York County resident Heather D. Venable, 31, waived her preliminary hearing Wednesday in York-Poquoson District Court for her felony child neglect charge. Four misdemeanor charges were dropped.
Her 5-year-old daughter was found walking unattended at the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Hampton Highway at around 9:15 p.m. June 29, according to Lt. Dennis Ivey with the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office.
The child told the deputy her mother was dead in a car nearby, but the deputy found Venable unconscious in a parked but running car nearby in the parking lot of New Life Presbyterian Church.
A spent needle containing suspected illegal drugs was laying 6 inches from Venable’s arm, Ivey said.
An ambulance was called to the scene, and Venable was taken to the Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News.
Venable’s daughter was taken into the custody of Child Protective Services.
Venable will face a grand jury in York-Poquoson Circuit Court at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 25.
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