Los Alamos woman charged after two children allegedly left alone in apartment

Los Alamos police charged Santana Chavez, 28, of Los Alamos, with two counts of abandonment of a child not resulting in death or great bodily harm after an alleged April 16 incident in which officers say two of her three children were left alone in her apartment. The case was filed in Los Alamos Magistrate Court, placing a child-safety allegation squarely inside the county’s criminal justice system.

The charge matters because New Mexico law treats child abandonment and related child-abuse allegations as serious offenses. Abandonment of a child is generally a misdemeanor, but it can become a second-degree felony if it results in death or great bodily harm. Related child-abuse statutes also carry felony penalties when a child is not killed or seriously injured. Chavez has only been charged, and the allegation has not been proved in court.

The case also points to the broader safety net that comes into play when a child-welfare complaint reaches police. The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department says its Protective Services Division investigates reports of child abuse or neglect. State law requires anyone with reasonable suspicion that a child is being abused or neglected to report it immediately to CYFD, law enforcement or the appropriate tribal authority.

That framework carries extra weight in Los Alamos County, where the population was 19,419 in the 2020 census and about 20.6% of residents were under age 18. In a small community, allegations involving young children can ripple quickly through schools, neighbors, extended family and social services, even when the criminal case itself is still just beginning.

The public record released so far does not explain every step that led to the arrest, but it does show a case that moved from an April 16 allegation to formal charges in magistrate court. For Los Alamos, the significance is not the blotter entry itself but what it signals about the reach of local policing, the role of child-protection authorities and the criminal consequences that can follow when officers say children were left without adult supervision.