The wife of the late ABC News' Dax Tejera has been charged with endangering her children's welfare after leaving them alone amid the death of her husband.
Dax Tejera, a producer on ABC News's This Week, sadly passed away of a heart attack on December 23 after having a meal with his wife Veronica Tejera in a New York restaurant, per New York Post.
At the time of his passing, colleagues offered their condolences and paid tribute to their late friend via posts on social media.
ABC News senior national correspondent Jim Avila tweeted: "Sad day for ABC. A good friend and groundbreaking ABC executive passes unexpectedly at 37. Dax Tejera I only have good thoughts my friend."
Now, new information has emerged as Veronica has been charged with child endangerment after allegedly leaving their children alone on the night that Dax passed away.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Veronica was arrested hours after her husband passed away after it emerged that their five-month and two-year-old daughters were left alone at the Yale Club hotel in New York.
When Dax's heart attack occurred, Veronica traveled with him to Bellevue Hospital while the couple's friends went to the hotel to get the children.
However, staff at the hotel called the police when it became clear that the children had been left unattended for at least two hours.
Veronica has since admitted that she made a "poor decision" in a statement released to Entertainment Tonight: "When Dax collapsed on December 23rd, I accompanied him in an ambulance to the hospital," she said.
"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 a 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."
Veronica added that she wishes for privacy for both herself and her children as they mourn the death of her husband and the children's father.
She is due in Manhattan Criminal Court on January 12.