Parents sentenced in hot-car abandonment

TYLER – After entering guilty pleas, two parents who abandoned their four young children in a hot car while shopping last year were sentenced to eight years of probation on Friday. Arp residents David Alan and Emily Kay Bearden entered guilty pleas to child endangerment in the 114th District Court on Friday. Each of them received an eight-year deferred adjudication probationary period. As a special requirement of their probation, both will have to spend four days in jail, according to Smith County Assistant District Attorney Heath Chamness. The four kids who were in the car are represented by the four-day jail sentences.

As mandated by Child Protective Services, the Beardens have already finished parenting classes. Additionally, they must perform 800 hours of community service. Judge Austin Reeve Jackson imposed the maximum amount of community service hours, despite the defense’s request for the minimum. While their parents were shopping at a Walmart at 6801 S. Broadway Ave. on July 28, 2025, Tyler police officers discovered four children, all under the age of ten, inside a parked car.

The car was left running, according to the police, but one of the kids turned it off, got scared, and started seeking assistance. When the child discovered a Walmart employee, they called the police. The kids, who ranged in age from five weeks to ten years, were attractive but unharmed. After the incident, family members were given custody of the children.