A Piedmont woman was charged last week with felony child neglect after allegedly leaving her four-month old baby sleeping in her car while watching a soccer game at Briscoe Park Sept. 28.

Valerie Kay Stuart, 35, 546 Cimarron Road, Piedmont, was arrested Thursday and released on $5,000 bond.

She is scheduled to make an initial court appearance at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Kingfisher County District Court.

According to an affidavit signed by Kingfisher Police Officer Chod Trout, he and Officer Aaron Schlegel were called to the park about 10:50 a.m. Sept. 28 in response to a report that witnesses had removed a crying baby from a locked car.

Stuart was at the concession stand holding the baby when police arrived. She told Trout that the baby fell asleep in the car on the way back from a local store during a break between games and she decided to let him continue to sleep while she watched her daughter’s game on the far north field, according to the affidavit.

Stuart told Trout she sent her older son back to the car periodically to check on the sleeping baby. At one point, she heard her car alarm going off and ran toward the car and saw people climbing in and getting the baby out.

Jennifer Robinson of Cashion told Trout that when she went to her vehicle in the parking area, she heard a baby “screaming” and found an infant in a baby seat in the backseat of a dark gray SUV, which was locked with the windows rolled down a few inches.

Robinson told Trout she went to the concession stand and reported the crying child and then went to the sidelines of a nearby game and started asking parents if they knew who owned the vehicle, according to Trout’s affidavit.

Jeremy and Jessica Conner and Veronica Orozco, all of Kingfisher, said they were working at the concession stand when Robinson reported finding the baby.

Jeremy Conner went to the car, while Orozco began asking other parents if they knew who the child’s parents were. When the parents couldn’t be found, Orozco joined Conner at the car where the baby was still crying, they said.

Orozco was able to reach inside the window and unlock the door, triggering the alarm, and then climbed over the front seat to lift the baby out, she told police.

Robinson, who also was present at the car, said the baby was hot, sweaty and crying when he was removed from the car.

According to Trout’s affidavit, the temperature outside was above 80 degrees.

Landon Anders of Piedmont, who was with Stuart, told Trout he knew the baby was sleeping in the car and Stuart’s older son had just returned from checking on the baby when the car alarm went off.

Anders said the witnesses who pulled the baby from the car initially refused to give him back to Stuart, carrying him to the concession stand instead and calling the police, according to Trout’s affidavit.

The incident was reported to Kingfisher County Department of Human Services, but Stuart was allowed to leave with the baby after Trout confirmed she “appeared to be of sound mind,” according to his affidavit.

State law gives courts wide sentencing leeway upon conviction for felony child neglect, ranging from a fine only to county jail time to up to life in state prison.