Pantego dad arrested for leaving baby in hot car

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The father of a 10-month-old baby girl who was left in a hot car in southeast Tarrant County will face charges.

Pantego police said 25-year-old Jonathan Christian Ballard turned himself in on charges of abandoning or endangering a child through criminal negligence.

Ballard allegedly left his young daughter in the car Wednesday morning. He works at the TexasFitt gym and was supposed to be caring for the baby while his wife worked out. When she returned to check on the little girl, they realized she was still in the car.

Ballard told officers she had been in the car for about a half an hour.

"The baby appeared to be very red faced was alert and wasn't crying," said Pantego PD Chief Thomas Griffith. "We were told when the baby was found in the vehicle baby was crying."

The girl was checked out at a hospital and released.

FOX 4 originally reported the child was 6 months old based on information gathered from a police report. Police said she is actually 10 months old.