EASTON — Police in Easton have charged a woman from Maine with abandoning her son and child endangerment after the 17-month-old boy was left in a shopping cart in a parking lot over the weekend.

The 27-year-old woman is scheduled to appear in Taunton District Court at a later date. Her name is being withheld to protect the identity of the child.

Easton Police report being called to the Target store on Robert Drive early Saturday afternoon after a call that a baby was discovered alone in the store's parking lot. The customer who made the call stayed with the toddler until officers arrived.

Police say that about a hour later, they received a call from a man saying that a child had been accidentally left behind. The man said he and the child's mother were headed back to the store from Plymouth.

Easton Police say the mother then told them that when she left Target with three friends, she thought one of the others had placed the child in the car seat.

After an investigation, the Massachusetts department of Children and Families granted custody of the child to the mother on Saturday night.

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