Woman arrested after leaving 2 children in a car that caught fire as she allegedly shoplifted, police say

A Florida woman faces multiple charges after a car in which she left two children caught fire as she allegedly shoplifted inside a mall, a report from the Oviedo Police Department says.

Alicia Moore, 24, of Orlando, Florida was charged with first degree arson and child neglect with great bodily harm in connection with the May 26 incident in the Dillard's parking lot at Oviedo Mall.

Suzanne Matos assisted in rescuing the children from the car, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The children were taken to Arnold Palmer Children's hospital for medical attention. One child suffered first degree burns to her face and ears.

The children were age 2 and age 4, WOFL reported.

Moore parked the car in the Dillard's parking lot around noon, leaving the children inside. A loss prevention worker observed Moore and an unknown male shoplift items. Security watched the pair for about an hour, the report says.

Moore spotted the vehicle engulfed in flames and "dropped the stolen merchandise" just before exiting Dillard's.

The Orlando Police Department arrested Moore for outstanding, unrelated warrants in other counties on the day of the fire, while she was at the hospital with the kids, according to WOFL. While in custody, she was was charged with child abuse and arson charges related to the fire.

Moore had "borrowed" the now-totaled car, later identified as a 2016 white Lincoln, and had refused to return it, the Sentinel reported.

Video captured by a nearby Tesla showed the fire started in the rear of the vehicle. An inspection after the car was towed found clothes and a box labeled "flammable gas" in the trunk, the outlet also reported.

"She's being charged with the arson because she did leave the kids alone in the car with some sort of lighter, matches, I don't know what it was that set the car on fire," Lisa McDonald, City of Oviedo's communications manager told WOFL.

"But the children are her responsibilities."

Moore's court date for the child neglect with great bodily harm charge is set for August 8, according to records from the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. She is being held at Seminole County Jail on $48,000 bond.

Other charges included on Moore's inmate information listing include two counts of second offense petit theft, one count of assault on an elderly person and one count of battery on an elderly person.

Oviedo is about 18 miles northeast of Orlando.

Watch coverage from WOFL below of a car catching fire with two children inside as Alicia Moore allegedly shoplifted with an unknown male inside the mall.

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