Mom Busted for Using Mall Playground as Babysitter

A mother has been busted for leaving her 7-year-old son alone at the playground at the mall -- allegedly for a couple of hours, police said.

The mother, identified as Sandra Hoff-Tarpeh, 41, of West Haven, was arrested Friday night after a witness told security the boy had been at the Westfield Playtown at the Westfield Shoppingtown Connecticut Post Mall for about two hours -- unattended, according to police.

The witness notified mall security guards, who stayed with the boy until police arrived. When the mother returned about 9:40 p.m., she maintained she had left her son alone at the Westfield Playtown for only 15 minutes while she was at the mall on the Boston Post Road, police said.

The sign at the playground reads, in part: "This Playtown is not a supervised play area. Parents are requested to monitor their children's activity."
 
Hoff-Tarpeh was charged with risk of injury to a minor and released on a promise to appear in court, according to police. The boy was taken home by an aunt while his mother was being processed, police said.

Child-welfare authorities were notified, according to police.