A Broward Sheriff's Office employee whose job it is to help abused and neglected children has been suspended while she is being investigated for leaving a 2-year-old girl alone in a car for five hours.

Community Service Aide Maribelle Martinez, 25, left the toddler in her service car after returning with her to the Child Protective Investigation Section building in Plantation on Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office said. The child was found in the car by someone else and rushed to the hospital, said Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright. The girl was later released in good health, she said. The toddler's mother, who is fighting to get her daughter back, demanded Monday that the employee be punished.

"If it was me who left her in the car, I'd be in jail," said Krystal Davis, 24, of Fort Lauderdale, the girl's mother. "I understand people make mistakes, but five hours? And this is your job? There should be no discrimination just because she's a Sheriff's employee."

Martinez, who joined the Sheriff's Office in August 2000, could not be reached for comment despite several calls to a number listed under that name. Plantation Police Sgt. Al Butler said his agency, which is now heading the criminal investigation, would not be releasing information until the case had "been presented to the State Attorney."

Coleman-Wright said Martinez did not normally transport children as part of her job but could face firing.

"This is the only time something like this has happened, but it's one time too many and we're committed to making sure it never happens again," she said. "It's just inexcusable."

Davis, the toddler's mother, said a caseworker with ChildNet, the lead foster care agency in Broward, told her what happened: Her daughter was being taken to a foster family on Wednesday when officials noticed a rash and took her to a doctor. It turned out to be diaper rash. When the employee brought the girl back to the office, the child was left in the car, Davis said she was told. It rained much of Wednesday, she added, which might have kept the temperature in the car down.

ChildNet spokeswoman Gina Ciolino referred all questions to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

"We're very lucky this child was not dead," said Davis' attorney, Patricia Gainer-Gaddis. "What safeguards are in place to make sure all the kids are out [when you are transporting them]? That's common sense."

In 2003, 42 children died nationwide from heat exposure after being left in closed vehicles, according to Kids and Cars, a Kansas-based group that advocates improved child safety.

In Broward, a father who left his baby daughter in the car while he bet on horses at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach was sentenced to 20 years in prison in March for her death. In December, a Parkland dentist who took his son to work at his Boca Raton office, but left him in the SUV for three hours, plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years of probation and 500 hours of community service.

That same month, a Boynton Beach mother left her baby in the car for 30 minutes while she went into a Super Wal-Mart to cash a check. The child was fine, but the mother was arrested on charges of child neglect, leaving a child unattended and improper child restraint.

Davis said her youngest daughter was removed from her care at 9 months because Davis beat her three older daughters when they misbehaved. She said she has since completed anger management and parenting counseling classes, as well as drug treatment, and she hopes to regain custody of the girl in the fall. She has never been charged with abuse, records show.

"I just don't understand how she could forget," Davis said of Martinez. "They are supposed to serve and protect, but that's not happening."

Jamie Malernee can be reached at jmalernee@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4849.