Man Facing Charges after Abandoning Child at Pharr Grocery Store

PHARR – A man is facing child abandonment charges after leaving his son at a grocery store over the weekend.

Police say 34-year-old Mario De Jesus Yanez Gracia left the child in a shopping cart and took off in his vehicle.

The incident happened Sunday around 5 p.m. at the H-E-B in Pharr.

The boy managed to get out of the cart and ran after Gracia through the busy parking lot as he drove away.

According to criminal complaint, a customer found the child crying in the parking lot, asking for his mother, and turned him over to H-E-B employees.

Gracia later returned to the store where police arrested him.