Neighbors in Temecula expressed shock after seeing a 12-year-old girl walking naked through a neighborhood and eating out of trash cans.

Neighbors noticed the girl roaming through trash cans looking for food and called 911.

Police arrested the girl's mother, Tracy Betts, shortly after officers, acting on witness tips, searched for the girl Thursday and found her without clothes and sitting in a car parked near Vail Elementary school.

Once they discovered who the girl’s mother was and where she worked, police went to the Vail campus and took Betts into custody.

Betts’ daughter was placed in protective custody and treated at a hospital.

Resident Dominique Prado told the Press-Enterprise she and her husband saw the girl naked and shoeless, holding a piece of bread in her hand. She tried to cover herself with a car floor mat.