The wife of an ABC News producer Dax Tejera has found herself in some legal trouble following her husband’s shocking death last month!
The This Week with George Stephanopoulos producer suddenly passed away from a heart attack on December 23. ABC News president Kim Godwin confirmed the news in a staff memo obtained by The Hollywood Reporter that read:
“It’s with a heavy heart and great sadness that we share that our friend and colleague, Dax Tejera, passed away suddenly of a heart attack last night. As EP of ‘This Week with George Stephanopoulos’ Dax’s energy, passion, and love for that show, ABC News, and you, shined every Sunday morning. That same love was extended to his precious girls. Our thoughts are with his wife, Veronica, the couple’s two young daughters, and the entire Tejera family.”
A sad story of someone taken too young… But apparently, there’s more drama involved in the already tragic story!
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Hours after the producer died, his wife was hit with criminal charges! It turns out Veronica Tejera was arrested for child endangerment after she allegedly left their two-year-old daughter and five-month-old daughter alone at the Yale Club on the night of Dax’s death.
According to The New York Post, the couple went to dinner with friends at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse restaurant – which is about a block away from the hotel. An employee told the outlet the group didn’t stay long at the place, as a server claimed Dax appeared “unwell.” When they left the restaurant, a staff member told DailyMail.com that he then collapsed on the ground outside. Dax was rushed to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival. So sad.
Of course Veronica traveled with him to the hospital. But what about their young children all that time?
Amid the chaos, the NYPD said they received a 911 call at 11 p.m. over “unattended children” at the Yale Club and found “a two-year-old female and a five-month-old female were left alone inside of a hotel room for an extended period of time.” The police did not identify the kids, but their ages matched the Tejeras’ two daughters. While law enforcement also did not specify the exact amount of time the girls were in the room, the outlet noted that staff members at the establishment found out the kids were left alone for at least two hours!
Veronica was taken into custody at around 12:20 a.m. and charged with two counts of “acting in a manner injurious to a child.” The 33-year-old was later released from custody at around 4:00 a.m., and given a desk ticket to appear in court at a future date. Meanwhile, her little ones, who were unharmed, stayed with their grandmother.
On Monday, Veronica responded to the child endangerment accusation. In a statement, The Washington Post senior producer explained she traveled to the hospital with her husband and reached out to a friend and her parents to grab their two children at the Yale Club:
“My family and I are devastated by Dax’s sudden passing. He has left behind a heartbroken family, and two daughters he loved with all his heart. When Dax collapsed on December 23rd, I accompanied him in an ambulance to the hospital. I asked both a close friend and my parents to rush to my children’s hotel room to attend to them as I monitored them by camera. The hotel would not allow my friend in and instead called the NYPD. We had two cameras trained on my children as they slept, and I monitored them closely in the time I was away from them. While the girls were unharmed, I realize that it was a poor decision.”
She added:
“Our family has suffered a terrible tragedy. I respectfully ask for privacy while my children and I mourn Dax’s death.”
Being just downstairs in the same building having dinner — with a camera on the kids — is probably something a lot of parents would have no problem with. But would she have gotten in trouble if she hadn’t traveled to the hospital with her dying husband? It kind of seems that way.
We’ll have to see what happens with Veronica’s legal troubles. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Do YOU think the extreme circumstances should be taken into consideration? Let us know in the comments below.
[Image via Dax Tejera/Instagram, ABC News/YouTube]
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