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Mother Of Boys Found Hiding In House On Fire Now Faces Charges

DENVER (CBS4) - A 30-year-old Denver mother is under arrest and facing felony child abuse charges after a fire last month that injured two of her children.

Police say Rocio Arroyo-Reyes, 30, left her two young boys home alone on the day the fire broke out. Neighbors told CBS4 the boys are about 2 and 4 years old.

Rocio Arroyo-Reyes
Rocio Arroyo-Reyes (credit: Denver police)

Firefighters wound up rescuing the children after arriving at the triplex on the morning of Sept. 29 and finding it in flames. The home is located on the 350 block of South Eliot Street.

Authorities said the boys were apparently hiding inside and it took two different sweeps of the home to locate them. At the time, a Denver fire spokesperson said the children were "found in really inconspicuous places."

Eliot house fire
Firefighters rushed to a burning home in the 350 block of S. Eliot on Tuesday morning (credit: CBS)

Arroyo-Reyes collapsed on the street when she returned to her home and saw what had happened.

According to court documents, she told investigators she had only been away from the home for about five minutes on an errand when she got a text alerting her about the fire. She allegedly told police she was taking an older child to get medication.

ELIOT FIRE map
(credit: CBS)

The cause of the fire is still undetermined.

The boys are now out of the hospital, according to Denver police.

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