UPDATED: Trial Postponed for Woman Accused of Abandoning Daughter in Car

Originally posted at 5:24 p.m. May 22; updated at 6:43 p.m. May 23:

With neither the prosecution or defense ready to move forward, trial proceedings were postponed Thursday for a Murrieta woman accused of abandoning her 12-year-old daughter in a car without any clothes or food while the defendant went to work.

Tracy Lynn Betts, 41, could face a year in jail if convicted of a misdemeanor count of child endangerment.

Trial proceedings were on the calendar of Riverside County Superior Court Judge Raquel Marquez. However, by mutual agreement of the prosecution and defense, Marquez vacated the hearing and instead scheduled a status conference in the case for July 8.

Betts, who is free on $50,000 bail, was arrested on Feb. 2, 2012, after her daughter was located by Riverside County sheriff's deputies naked and alone in a car parked in the 29000 block of Avenida De Calzada.

Neighborhood residents called the sheriff's department when they spotted the girl walking around, rummaging through trash cans for food, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Authorities allege that Betts left the child unattended in her vehicle, without provisions, while she went to work at nearby Vail Elementary School, where she was then employed as a teacher's aide.

Investigators turned the case over to the D.A.'s office, seeking charges against Betts within a couple weeks of her arrest. However, prosecutors returned the case to the sheriff's department for further investigation, culminating in the filing of the misdemeanor allegation last September.

—City News Service
Betts, who is free on $50,000 bail, was arrested on Feb. 2, 2012, after her daughter was located by Riverside County sheriff's deputies naked and alone in a car parked in the 29000 block of Avenida De Calzada.

Neighborhood residents called the sheriff's department when they spotted the girl walking around, rummaging through trash cans for food, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Authorities allege that Betts left the child unattended in her vehicle, without provisions, while she went to work at nearby Vail Elementary School, where she was then employed as a teacher's aide.

Investigators turned the case over to the D.A.'s office, seeking charges against Betts within a couple weeks of her arrest. However, prosecutors returned the case to the sheriff's department for further investigation, culminating in the filing of the misdemeanor allegation last September.

—City News Service