Lakeland Toddler Dies After Being Left In Car Following July 4 Party

LAKELAND, FL — Polk County sheriff’s detectives have arrested a husband and wife after detectives said they left an 18-month-old child in a car overnight after they returned home from a Fourth of July party.

During a news conference Thursday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the toddler was found unresponsive and still strapped into her car seat inside the car the next day.

Despite all efforts by medical staff to cool the toddler's body temperature down, medical staff was unable to revive her, and she was pronounced dead at 2:42 p.m. At that time, said Judd, her internal body temperature was 104.4 degrees.

On Thursday, the toddler's parents, Joel and Jazmine Rondon, both 33 years old, of Winchester Estates Circle in Lakeland were arrested and charged with first-degree felony aggravated manslaughter of a child.

According to Judd, the couple went to a Fourth of July celebration in Lakeland on Tuesday with their three children, ages 8, 6 years and 18 months old, and returned home around 3 a.m. on Wednesday.

Upon returning home, Judd said the couple began unloading food and other items from their Hyundai Elantra. Jazmine Rondon told her husband to bring the 18-month-old inside while she brought the other two children inside.

Judd said Joel Rondon noticed that one of the car doors was open at the time. He brought a load of items into the house and, when he went back outside, he saw that all the doors of the Elantra were closed, so he assumed his wife had taken the toddler out of the car.

The couple then went to sleep, each believing the other had put the toddler to bed for the night.

According to Judd, Joel Rondon woke around 10 a.m. that morning and spent an hour getting ready for work. Around 11 a.m., he asked one of the older children to "check on the baby" in the bedroom. The child returned and reported that the baby was not in the bedroom, and Rondon began looking for her around the house.

Unable to find her, he went outside and looked in the car, which was parked in the driveway in the full heat of the sun, and found the toddler unresponsive.

At 10 a.m. that morning, the National Weather Service issued a statewide heat advisory for Florida warning residents that the heat index was expected to reach 112 degrees.

Judd said Rondon and his wife drove the toddler to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, but medical staff was unable to save her.

Around 7 p.m., the Rondons submitted to drug screens by the Florida Department of Children and Families. Joel Rondon tested positive for methamphetamine, marijuana and alcohol, and Jazmine Rondon tested positive for marijuana and alcohol.

On Thursday, after an autopsy determined that the toddler died of hyperthermia due to being left in the hot car, the Rondons were taken into custody and booked into the Polk County Jail.

During the news conference, Judd reiterated a point he's made several times before.

"Once again, I want to make it perfectly clear there are those who still think drugs are low-level and nonviolent should think again," he said.

He said the death of the toddler is another example of the tragic results of drug use.

He warned residents that when transporting children or pets in cars at this time of the year, they should be especially mindful of the heat. Even with the car window cracked, the temperature inside a vehicle can reach 125 degrees in 10 minutes. He said it's never acceptable to leave children or pets in vehicles for any length of time. Moreover, it's against the law.

"Responsibility starts with not being stoned on drugs," he said. "You don't think clearly when you're stoned on drugs. That's a disaster waiting to happen."

Joel Rondon has been arrested seven times since 2003 on charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, attempted murder, possession of methamphetamine and resisting arrest.

His most recent arrest was in February. The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested him on a warrant filed by the Lakeland Police Department for carrying a concealed firearm, possession of meth and possession of drug paraphernalia.