Houston abandoned children: Judge sets $50,000 bail for Katerin Torres Martinez accused of leaving 5 children at home alone for hours

Katerin Torres Martinez, 25, first appeared in a probable cause court overnight. She is accused of abandoning a child with the intention of giving her back and endangering a child.

Her bail was set at $25,000 for abandonment and $25,000 for the danger report, bringing the total to $50,000.

ORIGINAL REPORT: Houston mother left her 5 children at home alone for hours without food, authorities say

The housing manager of the complex where they live on Greens Road called police on Wednesday after she and a caretaker observed the children alone at home.

Officers arrived around 3:30 p.m. The officers described what they discovered at the court hearing.

“Factual allegations that the 1-year-old was barefoot in the parking lot, the 3- and 4-year-olds were also playing outside unsupervised and an 8-year-old was allegedly left at home to check on the 3-month-old who had a colostomy bag has,” an official said in court.

Authorities said it appeared the baby’s colostomy bag was full and hadn’t been changed in a day. Documents noted that the baby was also swaddled, which allegedly could have resulted in suffocation if turned over.

Officials said there was expired milk in the fridge and rice and cereal in the pantry, but nothing else was prepared for the children.

CPS told a crime scene officer that they had closed a case three days earlier because the mother had neglected the baby’s medical care and failed to make it to doctor’s appointments.

Torres Martinez told police she was only gone about 10 minutes – to get some milk. Police said they were there for 30 minutes before finally getting hold of her on the phone and believed she had been gone for at least four hours.

The children were taken to Texas Children’s Hospital for feeding and evaluation and are now in CPS custody.