A Horizon City couple is facing felony child endangerment charges after a neighbor spotted their 2-year-old walking alone in the street while the parents were reportedly drinking at a gathering down the road. Arely Soriano, 24, and Ivan Soriano, 25, were each charged with two counts of abandoning or endangering a child following the incident on the 13800 block of Margaret Ponce Avenue in Far East El Paso.
El Paso County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to the block on August 26 after receiving a report of a small child walking alone in the street, according to KTSM 9 News. Deputies say Arely and Ivan Soriano had allegedly left their 2-year-old and 10-month-old unattended while consuming alcohol at a gathering nearby. Both parents were booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility, and each had bond set at $2,000.
Each parent faces two counts tied to their two young children, and the same station's report notes that both were arrested in connection with the reported child endangerment incident. Under Texas law, a person with custody or care of a child under 15 can be charged with endangerment for intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence placing that child in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment, according to Versus Texas. Whoever reported the toddler wandering alone was also acting under a legal obligation: Texas Family Code § 261.101 requires anyone who has reason to believe a child's welfare has been harmed by abuse or neglect to notify law enforcement or child protective authorities, per Versus Texas.
What the Sorianos Could Face in Court
Abandoning or endangering a child in Texas is typically charged as a state jail felony, punishable by 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and fines up to $10,000, according to the Law Office of Nathaniel Pitoniak. Cases involving intent to abandon a child or imminent physical danger can escalate to second- or third-degree felonies carrying up to 20 years in prison, the firm notes. Because both Sorianos face two separate counts stemming from the same incident, Texas Penal Code § 3.03 gives judges discretion to stack sentences consecutively rather than let them run at the same time, though Texas criminal procedure typically defaults to concurrent sentencing unless specific statutory exceptions apply.
When parents are arrested on child endangerment charges, Child Protective Services routinely opens a parallel investigation to evaluate home safety and establish a formal safety plan, according to Versus Texas. Those plans often place children with vetted relatives while criminal proceedings move forward. It remains unclear whether CPS has placed the Sorianos' 2-year-old and 10-month-old with family, or whether the couple's bond amounts will hold as the case proceeds.
Part of a Wider Pattern in El Paso County
The case adds to a string of similar arrests across El Paso County this year. In May, sheriff's deputies arrested a 31-year-old father in Far East El Paso after a barefoot 2-year-old was found roaming alone in a parking lot near Eastlake while the father had reportedly been drinking, as Hoodline previously reported. In June, deputies arrested two parents after a late-night traffic stop found a driver with a 0.204 blood-alcohol concentration behind the wheel with two toddlers in the backseat, resulting in felony charges for both adults.
Countywide, Child Protective Investigations completed 3,212 investigations in El Paso County during fiscal year 2025, confirming 1,138 victims of child abuse or neglect, according to KTSM 9 News. State officials point to substance abuse and breakdowns in parental supervision as leading drivers of those neglect cases. A similar pattern surfaced statewide earlier this month when a Laredo daycare worker was arrested on state jail felony child endangerment charges after a 2-year-old wandered out of a facility into street traffic, underscoring how Texas authorities apply the same statute whenever an unsupervised toddler is exposed to roadway danger.
