A Texas mother has been arrested after abandoning her malnourished son at home - forcing him to break into a stranger's house to steal food.
Crystal Viera, 28, of Harlingen, Texas, was taken into custody on June 20 after her eight-year-old allegedly broke into a nearby property on June 8.
Viera had left her son, who was not publicly identified, by himself while she left to hang out with her boyfriend.
After arriving back at her residence with her boyfriend, she admitted to police she had left the boy 'unattended and home alone'.
Crystal Viera, 28, of Harlingen, Texas, was taken into custody on June 20 after her eight-year-old son allegedly broke into a Petras Road home on June 8 in search of food
The Sheriff's Office was notified about the child after the homeowners called 911 after finding him digging through their refrigerator and 'eating their food.'
'He was holding food in his hands and stated he was 'hungry,'' the complaint read. The homeowners did not know the boy, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Police said the young boy was observed as being 'skinny, seemed very weak and malnourished.'
The homeowners took the boy back to his home in an attempt to return him to his mother, but she was not home.
The boy has since been removed from the home by CPS and Viera has been charged with abandonment and endangerment of a child with imminent bodily harm.
Viera is currently in custody at the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center, her bond is set at $20,000. Authorities are investigating the incident.
Viera had left her son, who was not publicly identified, by himself while she left to hang out with her boyfriend
Earlier this year, 31-year-old mother Raven Yates was arrested after abandoning her children, three and 12, for months.
A warrant was issued for the children's mother in February after their concerned father called cops on November 14 to report he had not seen them since September 28.
Concerned the children were left at his ex's home alone, the father, a music producer who lives in California, told cops he had been ordering food to the house for the children when family members told him Yates had been spotted alone in Mobile, Alabama.
Police in the small town of 1,700 - set thirty miles northeast of Houston - descended on the residence and the children's father flew out to Texas as well.
Upon entering the home, cops found the kids alive - despite being holed up in a house with very little food for nearly eight weeks.
Yates - who in 2018 was featured on Fox's Fugitive Files for attempting to slash a repo man with a box cutter - was arrested in Alabama in March.
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