Police: Lancaster woman told 3-year-old son to pump gas
A Lancaster woman has been charged with child welfare endangerment for allegedly instructing her 3-year-old son to pump gas.
According to a criminal complaint filed yesterday in county district court, Manheim Township Police responded to a Giant-To-Go around 9:15 p.m. Jan. 19 for a report of a toddler pumping gas into a black Toyota Rav4 with Pennsylvania tags.
The car was no longer in the lot when officers arrived, but a witness told them he had seen a woman instructing a “very young child” – possibly 3 years of age – how to fill up the vehicle’s tank. He said the boy then began using the pump, at one point spraying himself with gasoline because he pulled the pump out before releasing the handle.
Police said surveillance footage from the Giant-To-Go showed a woman allowing a toddler child to pump gas by himself. Investigators traced the car’s license place number to registered owner Theresa Moran Camara, 46, of Lancaster, Pa.
Police caught up with Moran Camara on Jan. 29th and she allegedly admitted that she had allowed her 3-year-old son to help her pump gas and that he had sprayed gasoline onto both of them.
Prosecutors filed charges against the woman yesterday and she is currently awaiting a preliminary hearing. It is unclear whether she has hired an attorney.
