[Ascension]

A Sonora woman is facing a felony child endangerment charge for leaving her baby unattended in a car while she was in a hair salon, according to the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff’s Lt. Dan Bressler said a witness reported a child asleep in a car seat in a white BMW SUV with its engine and air conditioning running about 1:45 Monday afternoon. The vehicle was parked on the 11000 block of Highway 49 in Sonora. When a deputy arrived, he was unable to unlock the vehicle, Bressler said.

The deputy said he then found the child’s mother, Sara Kelley, 21, in a hair salon on the same block getting her hair styled.

The baby was taken from the SUV and turned over to Child Welfare Services. Bressler said it was determined the child had been in the vehicle for 20 to 30 minutes and that it wasn’t the first time Kelley had left the child unattended in her car. He said the outside temperature Monday was approximately 90 degrees and the sun was shining directly on the vehicle.

Kelley was arrested for child endangerment and booked into jail on $25,000 bail. Bressler said she posted bail and will be formally charged in a future court date.